B V 

A4K3 NOTES 



TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS, 



TO ACCOMPANY THS 



ITEIATI01L SMDAY- SCHOOL LESSONS, 



FOE THE FIRST AND SECOND QUARTERS OF 1875. 



ALEXANDER McKENZIE, 

Faros of tbx jftasx Ctubcti. Cambridge, Mass., and Authob or the National 

S&UJES OF QUK^TIOKSc 



i 



BOSTON : 

FOR SALE BY THS 

CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY; 

A. F GRAVES, HENRY A. YOUNG & CO. 
BANY: S. R. GRAY. CHICAGO: JOHN FAIRBANKS & CO. 
PHILADELPHIA: J. C. GARRIGUES & CO. 

AND THE TRADE GENERALLY. 

1875. 



pr 



• <<cA«/i. -Km V 

'-OK^ M 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



J 



NOTES 



TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS, 



TO ACCOMPANY THE 



FOR THE FIRST AND SECOND QUARTERS OF 1875. 



BY 



ALEXANDER McKENZIE, 

Pastor of the First Church, Cambridge, Mass., and Author of the National 
Series of Questions. 




BOSTON : 

FOR SALE BY THE 

CONGREGATIONAL PUBLISHING SOCIETY; 

A. F. GRAVES, HENRY A. YOUNG & CO. 

ALBANY: S. R. GRAY. CHICAGO: JOHN FAIRBANKS & CO. 

PHILADELPHIA: J. C. GARRIGUES & CO. 

AND THE TRADE GENERALLY. 

1874. 



Library 

i KESS 

\\ ^aHlNGTON 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by 

The Congregational Publishing Society, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



Steeeotyped by C. J. Peteks & Son, 
73 Federal St., Boston. 



PKEFACE. 



These notes have been prepared for the use of teachers and 
scholars in connection with the International Lessons for the first 
half of 1875. It has been the aim of the author to embody the 
needful information in a concise, direct, and convenient form. 

While the notes are designed to be used with the Question 
Books of the author, it is thought they will be of service to those 
who study the lessons in any other way. 

Cambridge, 1874. 



NOTES FOE TEACHEES AM) SCHOLARS. 



FIRST QUARTER OP 1875. 

JOSHUA. 

Lesson I. — Joshua encouraged. — Chap. i. 1-9. 

The author of the Book of Joshua is not known. The Jewish and 
early Christian writers assign the authorship to the man whose name 
the book bears. There is more reason for adhering to this opinion 
than for attributing the book to any other man who has been sug- 
gested as the possible writer. The account of the death and burial 
of Joshua could easily have been added by another person, as was 
done with regard to Moses at the close of the Pentateuch. The book 
appears to have been written by one who was an eye-witness of the 
events which are described. The right of the book to a place in the 
Old Testament canon has never been denied. This book takes up 
the history of the children of Israel at the point where it was left at 
the close of Deuteronomy. Moses was dead ; and his successor was 
to complete the work he had begun and so signally carried forward. 
The events occupy a period of about twenty-five years ; extending, 
according to the usual chronology, from B. C. 1451 to B. C. 1426. 
The book may be naturally divided into three portions: — 

1. The conquest of the land of Canaan, the land of promise. 2. Tlie 
division of the land among the tribes. 3. The parting exhortation 
of Joshua to the people, the renewal of the covenant between them 
and God, and the death of the leader. 

"Now, after the death of Moses, the servant of the Lord, it came to pass that 
the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses* minister, saying." — Josh. i. 1. 

1. The opening words of this verse connect the book with that 
Which has gone before. From the unknown grave of Moses in the 
1* 5 



6 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

land of Moab, the narration moves on. " The servant of the Lord " 
is the title by which Moses was described at his death (Deut. 
xxxiv. 5). In Heb. iii. 5, we read, " Moses verily was faithful in all his 
house as a servant.'' The name is one of honor; and it peculiarly 
belongs to him who had done so many works which could be done 
only by one directed by the wisdom of God, and sustained by his 
might. The Lord spoke through him, and worked through him. 
The Lord did not need him; but it was in accordance with his 
method to use him. He could have lengthened his life ; but, because 
of his fault, it was not to be permitted to him to enter the desired 
land. Not then, but long afterwards, when Christ had come, he 
descended to Palestine, was seen of men, and saw the well-peopled 
country lying beneath him. The law could not bring the lawgiver 
into Canaan. Grace could do this ; and the grace came by Jesus 
Christ. For Christ's sake the sins of Moses were forgiven him, and 
an entrance ministered unto him into the everlasting kingdom, — an 
entrance, also, into the earthly Canaan, which so long stood as the 
image of the better country, that is, the heavenly. The Lord was 
able to speak directly to Joshua. The way in which this was done 
we are not told. God is spirit; Joshua was spirit. What could be 
easier than the intercourse of the creating with the created spirit? 
Joshua is described as " Moses' minister." His place hitherto had 
been subordinate; indeed, taking the whole narration together, his 
position and work are less difficult and less momentous than those of 
Moses. The word translated "minister" could have been translated 
"assistant." The word rendered "servant," in speaking of Moses, 
denoted among the Hebrews a slave. The latter word implied more 
di freedom and dignity in service. Joshua was not so fully subject 
to Moses as Moses was to the Lord. But in Josh. xxiv. 29, we have 
Joshua also spoken of as "the servant of the Lord." We are all 
bound to render a complete service in entire subjection to the Lord ; 
aut his service alone is perfect freedom. 

What do we know of Joshua before this, which justifies the title 
here given him ? He was the son of Nun, of the tribe of Ephraim : 
tie grew up a slave in Egypt. He was about forty years old when he 
came out of the house of bondage with his people. The great leader 
early recognized the traits of character which afterwards made Joshua 
famous. He appointed him to command the forces of Israel in the 
battle with Amalek at Rephidim. The Lord pointed him out as 
one who was to fill an important place, saying, "Write this for a 
memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua." When 
Moses went up Mount Sinai to receive the law, Joshua attended him 
as far as he was permitted, and was the first to greet him upon his 



JOSHUA. 7 

return. He was of the twelve chieftains sent before to explore the 
land of Canaan, of which he and Caleb alone brought back an en- 
couraging report. Their lives were spared when the others perished ; 
and they were suffered to enter the land whose dangers had not 
seemed too great for the favor of the Lord to remove. When Moses 
was told that he should be gathered unto his people, he made this 
prayer: "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man 
over the congregation, which may go out before them, and which 
may go in before them, and which may lead them out, and which may 
bring them in ; that the congregation of the Lord be not as sheep 
which have no shepherd. And the Lord said unto Moses, Take thee 
Joshua, the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay thine 
hand upon him. . . . And Moses did as the Lord commanded him ; 
and he took Joshua, and set him before Eleazar the priest, and before 
all the congregation. And he laid his hands upon him, and gave him 
a charge, as the Lord commanded, by the hand of Moses." The Lord 
spoke to Moses, " Charge Joshua, and encourage him and strengthen 
him." 

After Moses had died, we have this record, " And Joshua the son 
of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom ; for Moses had laid his hands 
upon him : and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as 
the Lord had commanded Moses." Thus was Joshua brought forward 
for the work which now begins. The name is interpreted as " whose 
help is Jehovah," or, better, "God the Saviour." In its original form 
the name was Oshea. Moses prefixed to this the name Jehovah, 
Which indicated, perhaps, his loyalty to God, and that the spirit of 
God was in him (Num. xiii. 16). This made the name Jehoshua, or, 
by contraction, Joshua. The name is given in five different forms in 
the original Scriptures, and in seven in our English version. Thus 
we have Oshea, Hoshea, Jehoshua, Jehosuah, Joshua, Jeshua, Jesus ; 
to which we might add Osea and Hosea, which are essentially the 
same as the first two forms before named. Oshea means help, 
welfare, salvation. Prefixing Jehovah would give the signification 
already mentioned. Jesus is the Greek and New Testament form of 
the name (Acts vii. 45; Heb. iv. 8). If we render this name "God 
the Saviour," we see how fitting it was that it should be given to the 
Eecleemer. "Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his 
people from their sins." 

" Moses my servant is dead : now, therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, thou, 
and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of 
Israel." — Josh. i. 2. 

2. Moses had been true to the trust reposed in him. lie was not 



8 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

with out fault ; and lie was chastened for his sin with a sore disap- 
pointment; but he had done the work which was required of him. 
He had confessed God when living in the palace of a heathen king, 
and among an idolatrous people. When he was come to years, he 
chose " rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to 
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of 
Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt." By faith he led 
God's people through their difficult march ; formed a horde of fugitives 
escaping from bondage, into a state, with government and laws, and 
b nought them to the border of the land given to them. As he con- 
fessed God, so did God confess him, and called him, "Moses my ser- 
vant." But this useful man was dead. Great as he was, he could be 
spared. God was not dependent upon him. But the work must go 
on. Joshua's time had come. The call here given to him was the 
repetition of his original commission : for this purpose had he been 
raised up and ordained. To lead the people over the Jordan, with- 
out bridge or boats, at a time when the river was " full up to all its 
banks," required large courage, based upon strong faith. But the 
faith itself had a foundation in the purpose and promise of God. 
The command was itself a promise. God would not mock Joshua 
and Israel. If he bade them go over the river, he would give them 
the ability to go over. There was, a] so, the distinct assertion that the 
land beyond was given to them. What was Joshua to do but to arise 
and go ? With the Bed Sea behind him and his people, the swollen 
Jordan could not affright them when the voice of the Lord had given 
the command, "Forward." 

" Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto 
you, as I said unto Moses. 

i 'From the wilderness and this Lebanon even unto the great river, the River 
Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites, and unto the great sea toward the going- 
down of the sun, shall be your coast." — Josh. i. 3, 4. 

3. The promise was made to Moses, as recorded in Deut. xi. 24. 
The promise was older than this, and was made to Abram, as we read 
in Gen. xiii. 14-17. Years had passed, the children of Abraham had 
led an inconstant life ; but the word could not be broken. The time 
was come for its fulfilment. 

4. The wilderness here named is the desert of Arabia, which made 
the southern limit of Palestine. The mountain-range of Lebanon 
was at the northern extremity. It is visible from nearly every part of 
Palestine ; and, as the people could see it from their encampment, it 
was spoken of as " this Lebanon." The eastern and western bounda- 
ries of the promised land were the Euphrates and the Mediterranean 



JOSHUA, 9 

Sea. The Hittites were, strictly speaking, the people of Northern 
Canaan and Phoenicia ; bnt the name seems here to be applied to all 
the inhabitants of the land. For the promise, read Deut. xi. 24; 
Gen. xv. 18. 

" There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life : 
as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake 
thee." — Josh. i. 5. 

5. The land thus given to the children of Israel was a goodly land, 
as the spies had reported (see 'Num.. xiii. 23, 24, xiv. 7, 8) ; but it 
was already in possession of those who would make a stout resistance 
to those who should attempt to drive them out. " Palestine was at 
this time governed by a multitude of petty independent kings. . . . 
The agricultural had encroached on the pastoral life ; the vine and 
olive had been extensively cultivated; strong walled cities, fenced 
cities, had arisen on the heights and in the plains ; the Canaanites, 
manifestly a warlike people, had encountered, defended themselves 
against, or been compelled to subjection by, the Egyptian conquer- 
ors. " But, formidable as were the foes who were in waiting for 
Israel, they should not be able to stand before the people of the Lord. 
The protection and success given to Moses should be continued to 
Joshua. The Canaanites served strange gods: the Israelites served 
God. Herein was Israel's safety. 

" Be strong and of a good courage ; for unto this people shalt thou divide for an 
inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them." — Josh. i. 6. 

6. The preceding verse naturally leads to this : if God will prosper, 
Joshua may well have good courage. Recall his own words in Num. 
xiv. 8. The promise that the land should be given to the children of 
Israel is here renewed. There is a luxury of promise. God might 
have ordered the people forward without telling them what he would 
do. He could have given as liberally in that way ; but he bestowed 
the anticipation of the blessing, that it might be easy for his people to 
dare and do. 

Joshua himself was to have the honor of dividing the land. Moses 
left the completion of his work to another. Joshua should see the 
end of his work. The people might be froward ; but the land which 
God swear unto their fathers should be given into their possession. 
The extent and the worth of it would depend much upon them- 
selves ; but the land should be theirs. 

" Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe tz do 
according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded thee : turn not from 
it to the right hand, or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou 
goest, 



10 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

" This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt med- 
itate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that 
Is written therein : for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou 
6halt have good success." — Josh. i. 7, 8. 

7. To keep the commandments of God, to follow his directions 
closely with regard to the land and its inhabitants, would require 
firmness and courage. To put the Canaanites to slaughter, and take 
their land as the Lord commanded, would need a rigid adherence to 
the word of the Lord. The temptation to leniency towards those 
whom God had appointed to destruction must be resisted. Read how 
Saul was rejected, because he swerved from the commandment in a 
ease where his amendment seemed to him to have excuse. We must 
not seek to change what God decrees. We cannot improve it : it were 
wrong to injure it. If Joshua was obedient, he would act wisely, and 
have success. 

8. But it was not the law for this special case which Joshua was to 
observe, but the whole law of the Lord as given by Moses. It was 
the constitution of the nation, the charter of their liberties, the 
statutes of the great King. The leader must have it in his mouth 
when he spoke : he must think upon it day and night, — in his work, 
in all his waking-hours. It should form the staple of his purposes and 
deeds. The second verse of the first Psalm should be graven into his 
experience. Knowing the law, thinking carefully upon it, he would 
be able to obey it intelligently. Thus would he keep himself in the 
line of God's promises, which would insure his prosperity. 

"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not 
afraid, neither be thou dismayed : for the Lord thy God is with thee whitherso- 
ever thou goest." — Josh. i. 9. 

9. Acting as the servant of God, his way was plain and sure. Let 
him not be dismayed by the river, or the hostile tribes beyond. He 
served the strongest. The word could not be broken. The ancient 
promise, many times renewed, hastened to its fulfilment. This was 
the seal of it, the watchword for the advancing people: " The Lord 
thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest." 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Without reading further, our confidence in Joshua makes us 
sure that he went forward ; and our confidence in God makes us cer - 
tain that the promised success was found. We honor Joshua by 
trusting him. We honor God by trusting him, as we have constant 
call to do. 



JOSHUA. 11 

2. The promises of God to us are very great. He not only gives 
the blessings, but tells us that he will give them, so that we have a 
double joy. 

3. God's promises reach beyond the Jordan, on whose "stormy 
banks we stand.' ' Beyond the Kiver of Palestine was war; beyond 
our Jordan, perfect peace. 

4. The promises of God are interwoven with his commands: 
"What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asun- 
der." 

5. There are no indispensable men. Moses may die ; but there is a 
Joshua to take up his work. John the Baptist may fall in an untimely 
hour ; but there are others to preach the kingdom of Christ. There is 
no place for pride, as if the world could not spare us ; no room for 
despair, as if the world were bereft of all the good and strong. The 
grass withers ; the man dies : the word of the Lord endures forever. 



Lesson II. — Crossing the Jordan. — Chap. iii. 14-17. 

After the appointment of Joshua as the successor of Moses, he pre- 
pared the people for the march through Jordan. He sent two spies 
to "view the land, even Jericho." They went to the house of a 
woman named Eahab, who seems to have kept a lodging-house for 
travellers. She was a young woman, unmarried, with a father and 
mother and brothers and sisters in the city, where she had a house of 
her own. It would seem, also, that she was employed in making 
linen, and in dyeing ; for she had stalks of flax on the roof of her house, 
and a scarlet line with a stock of cord. " Her house was upon the 
town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall." Probably it was near the 
town gate. She was so situated, that she would hear all the news ; 
and she had learned of the coming of the Israelites and of the events 
of their journey. She had come in this way to have faith in the God 
of Israel, and to believe that the purposes of his people would be 
accomplished. The spies came within her friendly doors, where she 
concealed them when they were sought. When the pursuers were 
gone, she let them down by a cord through the window ; and they fled 
to the mountain, till it was safe for them to return to Joshua. She 
exacted of them a promise, that, when the advancing host should enter 
the city, they should show kindness unto her father's house. They 
gave her their oath that it should be so, and directed her to mark her 
house by binding a line of scarlet thread in the window. Kead Heb. 
xi. 31. 



12 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

The spies returned with a most encouraging account ; and Joshua 
moved the people to the Jordan, and the officers gave the instructions 
for the passage. Joshua added his directions to the people and the 
priests ; and the Lord again gave him a promise and a command ; and 
Joshua told to the people the words of the Lord their God. 

" And it came to pass, when the people removed from their tents, to pass 
over Jordan, and the priests bearing the ark of the covenant before the people." 
Josh. iii. 14. 

14. At length all was ready for the advance. The people came out 
of their tents for a march, which they might well regard as visionary 
or impracticable, but for the experience of their fathers at the Red 
Sea, and the miracles of preservation and deliverance which had 
marked the exodus and the subsequent progress ; and especially but 
for the distinct command and promise in whose strength their divinely- 
appointed leader conducted them forward. When the soles of the feet 
of the priests who bore the ark rested in the waters of the Jordan, 
the waters were to give way before them, and let the people through. 
Such was the promise. It was trustworthy ; for it was spoken by " the 
Lord, the Lord of all the earth." 

In this confidence the priests took up the ark. The ark of the cove- 
nant belonged in the tabernacle. We have an account of it in Exod. 
xxv. It seems to have been an oblong chest of shittim or acacia wood, 
two cubits and a half in length, and one cubit and a half in width. A 
cubit was the distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger. 
It cannot be said precisely how long this would be in our measures ; 
but it would be somewhere from seventeen to twenty-two inches. 
The wood was overlaid with gold, and on the upper side was the 
mercy-seat, on which rested the cherubim. There was a ring of gold 
near each corner, in which staves of shittim-wood, adorned with gold, 
were always kept. To the Levites of the house of Kohath was 
assigned the duty of bearing the ark on a march. In this sacred 
chest were the stone tables of the law and covenant of God, which 
gave it its name, and a golden pot of manna, and Aaron's rod that 
budded. The history of the ark, and its symbolical meaning, are of 
great interest, but need not be told here. 

The priests took up the ark of the covenant, and bore it before the 
people. The ark thus carried by God's ministers before his people 
was the sign of his presence as their leader. It was far in advance of 
them, nearly a mile. As the people came down the heights towards 
the river, they could clearly see the wonders wrought below them, 
where the ark was resting. By special religious rites they were 
prepared for the work of the Lord: "Sanctify yourselves; for to- 
morrow the Lord will do wonders among you." 



JOSHUA. 13 

11 And as they that bare the ark were come unto Jordan, and the feet of the 
priests that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water (for Jordan over- 
flowed all his banks all the time of harvest). " — Josh. iii. 15. 

15. The Jordan is a remarkable river. The deep depression of its 
bed has no parallel. "No other valley in the world presents such 
extraordinary physical features ; none has been the subject of such 
various theories as to its origin and character. " The river was some 
three thousand feet below the mountains of Judaea. " It has three 
distinct stages, — the first ending in the Lake of Merom, the second in 
the Sea of Galilee, and the third in the Dead Sea." "From this, its 
last receptacle, the Jordan emerges no more." "It plunges through 
twenty-seven rapids, through a fall of a thousand feet, through what 
is the lowest and final stage of its course." A course of sixty miles 
in actual length is " increased to two hundred by the infinite multipli- 
cation of its windings." From the swift downward rush of the 
stream, it gets its name of the Jordan; that is, "the descender." 
"The Jordan overfloweth all his banks all the time of harvest." 
This overflow is mentioned also in 1 Chron. xii. 15, when the sons of 
Gad went over the stream in the first month. There is an allusion to 
the fact in Ecclus. xxiv. 26, where it is said that the Lord maketh the 
understanding to abound " as Jordan in the time of the harvest." 
This time would correspond to our April or May. Stanley says, "It 
is probable that the utmost that can be here implied is the rise of 
the river to the top of the lowest of its terraces ; that, namely, which 
is occupied by the jungle. . . . That there was such an increase 
receives a slight confirmation in the fact that the remains of an 
ancient dike have been observed at the issue of the river from the 
southern end of the Sea of Tiberias." In its usual state, this was 
larger than any other river which the Israelites had seen since they 
left the Nile. In its swollen state, it rolled as a formidable barrier 
between them and the land they sought : the land they would not 
have sought, could not have acquired, had it not been the land of 
promise. 

The exact spot at which they came to the river cannot be de- 
termined. The feet of the priests were dipped in the brim of the water, 
and the ark was above the swift current, when the power of the Lord 
was displayed, and the promise given to the people before they set 
out was signally fulfilled. 

" That the waters which came down from above, stood and rose np upon an 
neap very far from the city Adam, that is beside Zaretan ; and those that came 
down toward the sea of the plain, even the salt sea, failed, and were cut olf : and 
the people passed over right against Jericho." — Josh. iii. 16. 

16. The city Adam, that is beside Zaretan, is not elsewhere men- 

2 



14 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

tioned. It was perhaps thirty miles above the place of encampment. 
There the waters of the Jordan, which came down from the Sea of 
Galilee, rose up in a heap, instead of flowing on to the Dead Sea. As 
the supply was thus cut off, the bed of the river soon became dry, 
from north to south, as far as the eye could reach. The people 
hasted, and passed over opposite Jericho. 

"And the priests that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on 
diy ground in the midst of Jordan ; and all the Israelites passed over on dry 
ground, until all the people were passed clean over Jordan." — Josh. iii. 17. 

• 17. The priests stood with the ark on dry ground, where just 
before the river had been rushing past them. They stood firm, with 
their feet and their hearts established. The people passed over, 
until all " were passed clean over Jordan." The word of the Lord 
had been fulfilled. The end was not yet ; many difficulties and perils 
were awaiting them : but they had learned the might and good-will 
of him who had called them from Egypt, in whom was their trust. 

This was a marked miracle. It was an act no greater than was 
seen every day. That there should be a Jordan, that its streams 
should be continually replenished from the clouds, that its waters 
should run from sea to sea, — these things were as great, as far 
beyond the power of man, as the piling of the waters in a heap beside 
Zaretan. He who wrought the usual mighty works could work the 
unusual. Divine power is not limited to prescribed methods. God 
did not withdraw his control from the rivers when he ordained the 
laws by which their ordinary course should be governed. He leaves 
himself at liberty to do new things. Their strangeness should not 
stagger us. Let him have variety, and suit the course of nature to 
his own purposes and the needs of men. He who can create can do 
any thing. The laws of nature declare One who is able to go beyond , 
what we find to be laws, and display a free, sovereign will in league 
with almighty power. In this miracle we should see him : then all 
is plain. 

PE ACTIO AX, THOUGHTS. 

1. The promises of God are sure to be fulfilled. 

2. We should always bear his covenant with us, and so live, that we 
shall be in the line of his promises, and receive his covenanted 
mercies. 

3. When impassable barriers are in our way, and our duty leads 
through them and beyond them, we are to go forward, and trust God 
to open the way. 



JOSHUA. 15 

4. As Joshua went through the Jordan at his inauguration as the 
leader of Israel, so was the later Joshua, our Jesus, baptized in the 
waters of the same river at the beginning of his ministry. Like 
the Israelites, who followed Joshua, we ought to enter upon tie new 
life with baptism with water, the seal of our belief in Jesus, whom we 
follow. 

Lesson III. — Memorial Stones. — Chap. iv. 4-9. 

When all the people had passed over Jordan, the Lord again spoke 
unto Joshua. In the difficult work before him, the man needed 
divine guidance. This would surely be given to one of his waiting 
and obedient spirit. Moreover, this was the Lord's work. He had 
made man. He made the covenant with Abram, for himself, and his 
seed after him, in their generations. He led Israel out of Egypt with 
a strong hand. He gave the law to Moses, and statutes to Israel. He 
called Joshua to the command of the people whom he had chosen, 
through whom he was to make himself known to the world, by 
whom he was to save the world, of whom, according to the flesh, 
Christ was to come. 

It was natural, therefore, that, having brought the people thus far, 
he should continue to direct them, asserting his authority over them, 
carrying out his own counsels. 

The Lord directed that twelve men should be chosen, one man 
from each tribe. This had been commanded before, as we read in 
chap. iii. 12. When the command was repeated here, that which 
these men were to do was made known. 

" Then Joshua called the twelve men whom he had prepared of the children 
of Israel, out of every tribe a man." — Josh. iv. 4. 

4. These men had been chosen after the direction had first been 
given. Probably each tribe chose the man who was to represent it ; 
and the choice was approved by Joshua. The command was given 
in the plural. These men were prepared, and, it seems, remained 
with Joshua on the eastern bank of the river, while the people 
passed over. They waited to know what would be required of 
them. 

"And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the ark of the Lord your God 
into the midst of Jordan, and take you up, every man of you, a stone upon 
his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel." 
-— Josh. iv. 5. 

5. They were to pass into the river, and each one to take upon his 
shoulder as large a stone as he could carry, lifting it " out of the place 



16 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

where the priests' feet stood firm." These twelve stones the men 
were to bear on before the ark to the next place of encampment, 
" the lodging-place where ye shall lodge this night." 

This was a time when Joshna and the people were very busy, and 
probably excited by the eventful scenes through which they were 
passing. But they were to go with deliberation, and with piety also. 
When the Lord delayed them, they were to wait cheerfully. Work 
which seemed to have no practical value was to be done, if he required 
it. It had practical value, if it only pleased him. That is an end, 
which, beyond all others, is worth accomplishing. It is the highest aim 
and end in life. We need not ask, "-To what purpose is this waste ?" 
when he is anointed, or when any act is wrought for his glory. 

The work which the Israelites had undertaken was not yet com- 
pleted ; but they were to mark the progress they had already made 
under the prospering hand of God. Much had been done. The Lord 
had proved himself able and willing to finish what he had begun. 
With confidence in complete success, they were to set up memorial- 
stones. They were justified in this by their confidence in God. 

When the Roman senators were shut up in their city by the hosts 
of Hannibal, they sold and bought among themselves the very land 
on which he had fixed his camp, so sure were they that the land 
would come into their possession. It is said, that, in the recent war 
with France, the German soldiers advanced with a map of Paris in 
their knapsacks. 

Joshua proposed to take possession of the land already occupied by 
strong nations. He believed that he could do it, and was willing to 
have the river return to its channel, and cut off his way of retreat ; 
and he would set up stones as signs of his confidence, and tokens of 
the sovereignty he anticipated for his people. He did not do this 
of his own thought, to advance his own honor, but by the command 
of God. 

" That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers 
in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones ? 

" Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before 
the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it passed over Jordan, the waters of 
Jordan were cut off : and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children 
of Israel forever." — Josh. iv. 6, 7. 

6. Great as was this work of the Lord, it might be forgotten. A 
visible monument, which would remind the people of these events, 
and lead children and strangers to inquire into it, would be of service. 
It was, above all things, important that the Israelites, generation after 
generation, should know God and his goodness. It is implied here, 
that the children would ask the meaning of these stones. Their 



JOSHUA. 17 

native curiosity would thus find a worthy use : but for such desfre 
study would come to an end. The desire to learn and know leads to 
study and knowledge. " Those that will be wise when they are old 
must be inquisitive when they are young. Our Lord Jesus, though 
he had in himself the fulness of knowledge, has, by his example, 
taught children and young people to hear and ask questions." Par- 
ents should encourage their children in this. An idle curiosity can 
be restrained by gratifying that which is proper and useful. A direc- 
tion similar to this was given in relation to the passover (Exod. xii. 
25-27). This became a part of the service. At an appointed time, 
the son of the house was to ask his father the meaning of the feast. 
His answer, given whenever the feast was observed, would perpetuate 
its meaning. 

7. This was an answer fitted to surprise one who heard it for the 
first time. Who would think that the waters of the Jordan could 
thus be cut off ? But here was the witness of it. These were not 
precious stones, yet they were of exceeding value. They were not 
cunningly carved ; but their presence marked the event with which 
they were connected. They were not engraved, but, that from lying 
in the bed of the river they had come to be piled in order high upon its 
bank, marked the hand of the Lord, in whom the people were always 
to trust. The memorial would be of use forever. The lesson of 
God's goodness can never grow old. On earth and in heaven we 
shall have need to remember it, and find our honor in regarding it. 
The use to be made of these stones was again declared after the\ 
were set up (verses 21-24). The erection of memorials like this has 
been common among all people. In a rude state, they mark events 
which it is desired to preserve in memory. They may be simple, or 
elaborate ; but they testify to an instinct of the human heart. By the 
risible we seek to represent the invisible, and keep it from forgetful- 
ness. We build our monuments at the graves of our friends, and to 
commemorate deeds of valor. These are " sermons in stones." 

The choicest and dearest of all memorials is that which the Saviour 
gave us when he fulfilled the passover, and established the Lord' 
Supper ; breaking the bread which was his body ; saying of the cup 
" This is my blood;" giving to his disciples that they might eat and 
drink, and bidding them do this in remembrance of him; showing 
forth his death till he shall come. Our purpose should be, in all 
memorials, even that which is recorded in the twenty-fourth verse of 
this chapter. 

" And the children of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve 
stones out of the midst of Jordan, as the Lord spake unto Joshua, according to 
2* 



18 NOTES FOR TEACHERS' AND SCHOLARS. 

the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and carried them over with 
them unto the plao* where they lodged, and laid them down there." — Josh. iv. 8. 

8. The children of Israel obeyed Joshua. The twelve men carried 
the stones : but in this they acted for the people ; and their act was 
reckoned to the people. They crossed the river, and laid down the 
stones at Gilgal, "in the east border of Jericho." It was about five 
miles from the river, and two miles from Jericho, and was on rising 
ground. " The sight of the camp was no doubt fortified by Joshua, 
as it constituted for some time the abiding foothold in Canaan, 
whence he sallied forth to subdue the country; and was also the place 
of safety where the ark, and, no doubt also, the women, children, 
cattle, and other property of the people, were left." The stones were 
piled in such a way as to make them secure and conspicuous, — a sign 
for Israel and Canaan. They were to be seen, it is said, for centuries 
afterwards. At the end of the seventh century, a large church 
covered the site, "in which the twelve stones were ranged." We 
hear of the stones again in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 
Where they were is not known. " No modern traveller has succeeded 
in eliciting the name, or in discovering a probable site." 

" And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of Jordan, in the place where 
the feet of the priests which bare the ark of the covenant stood ; and they are 
there unto this day." — Josh. iv. 9. 

9. Besides the memorial at G-ilgal, Joshua set up another, " in the 
midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests w T hich 
bare the ark of the covenant stood ; and they are there unto this 
day." He seems to have done this of his own accord, and not by 
divine command. The spot was not far from the eastern bank of the 
river, at the place where the people crossed. It may not have been 
in the ordinary channel of the stream, but on ground which was only 
covered when the Jordan overflowed its banks, as at this time. There 
was nothing, therefore, to prevent the stones from being seen, perhaps 
at any time, or from remaining as a permanent memorial. This 
narrative was written some years after the events here described ; and 
the pile was then standing. Thus the miracle was recorded in stone 
on both sides of the river. 

"And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, 
that the ark of the Lord passed over, and the priests, in the presence 
of the people. . . . And it came to pass . . . when the soles of the 
priests' feet were lifted up unto the dry land, that the waters of Jor- 
dan returned unto their place, and flowed over all his banks, as they 
did before." The Canaanites were afraid when they knew what was 



JOSHUA. 19 

done by the Lord. " Their heart melted ; neither was there spirit in 
them any more, because of the children of Israel." 

Then Joshua, by the Lord's command, circumcised "the people 
that were born in the wilderness. " Thus they were fully made, by 
the divine ordinance given to their fathers,' the people of the Lord. 



PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Notice the hand of the Lord in the miracle at the river, as it 
had been seen at the Ked Sea. Answer plainly the question in 
Ps. cxiv. 5: "What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou 
Jordan, that thou wast driven back? " 

2. We should carefully remember the things which the Lord has 
done for us. 

3. Visible memorials of spiritual blessings are fitting. 

4. We should never be too busy to recognize God's mercy, and give 
him thanks and service. 

5. Children should ask and be taught of God, and his law and 
grace. 



Lesson IV. — Preparation for Conquest. — Chap. v. 9-15. 

" And the Lord said unto Joshua, This day have I rolled away the reproach 
of Egypt from off you. Wherefore the name of the place is called Gilgal unto 
this day."— Josh. v. 9. 

9. " The Lord said unto Joshua.' ' We are not told by what means 
God spoke. Various methods could be employed. He could speak to 
his servant mouth to mouth, showing his similitude, as to Moses 
(Num. xii, 8). But, when Moses was directed to ordain Joshua for his 
work, it was said, " He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who 
shall ask counsel for him after the judgment of Urim before the Lord " 
(ISTum. xxvii. 21; Exod. xxviii. 30). But that was probably only for 
cases of especial difficulty. Usually, we may suppose, God made a 
direct communication of his will, which would be described as speak- 
ing to a man. 

We cannot be certain what is meant by " the reproach of Egypt." 
It probably refers to the bondage and degradation suffered in Egypt, 
an I the suspension of full nationality, which was afterwards ex- 
pressed in the lack of circumcision through the long wandering in the 
desert. Restoring the national rite gave the people their place again ; 



20 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

and, when this was restored, the bondage and wandering were both 
past. They could not be reproached by the Egyptians as slaves, or 
wanderers, or uncircumcised. The shame which had belonged to 
them in their connection with Egypt would no more rest upon them. 
They were done with Egypt; for they had reached Canaan, and stood 
as God's people in the land he had promised them. 

From this fact the place of the first encampment beyond the Jor- 
dan was called Gilgal, which is thought to mean " rolling. " Jose- 
phus says it means "freedom." The place which is thus connected 
with the beginning of the Israelites in their own. land was famous in 
fcheir late history. In the sacred groves beside it, Samuel and Saul 
and David had solemn assemblies (1 Sam. vii. 16, x. 8, xi. 14, 15; 
2 Sam. xix. 15, 40). 

" And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on 
the fourteenth day of the month, at even, in the plains of Jericho. 

"And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the pass- 
over, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day." — Josh. v. 10, 11. 

10. They began their life in their own country by celebrating their 
greatest religious ordinance. They gave thanks for the deliverance 
granted to their fathers, into whose advantages they had entered. 
Their gratitude for national mercies bestowed forty years before must 
have been greatly quickened by more recent blessings, and especially 
by the miracle which had carried them safely through the river, and, 
after a long wandering, placed their feet on the land given to them, 
where their eyes could see their ample and fruitful heritage. 

They kept the passover at the regular time. How accurately their 
arrival in Canaan was planned! (Exod. xii. 18; Num. xxviii. 16; 
Deut. xvi. 6. ) The rite of circumcision was followed by the passo- 
ver: so, too, after the baptism of the day of Pentecost came the 
" breaking of bread" (Acts ii. 41, 42). 

From Gilgal, " in the plains of Jericho/' the people could see the 
towers of the city which stood at the entrance of the land they were 
to possess. Beyond the city rose the broken range of " the white 
limestone mountains of Judaea. " Bat, before pressing on to conquest 
and possession, the people paused till they should be bidden forward ; 
and they dedicated the land with the rites and services of religion. 

11. On the morrow after the passover, that is, after the festival was 
begun, "they did eat of the old corn of the land," that is, " the prod- 
uce of the land." This is commonly understood to mean corn which 
the inhabitants of Gilgal had left in their storehouses when they fled 
into Jericho. " Thus the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the just ; 



JOSHUA. 21 

and little did they who laid it up think whose all those things should 
be which they had provided." But it may be that new corn is meant, 
the crop just coming in at this time ; for we read in the next verse, 
that they continued to eat of this during the year, — " unleavened 
cakes" (Lev. xxiii. 5, 6), " parched corn" (Lev. xxiii. 14). The 
passover began on the 14th of the month Nisan, which in early times 
coincided with April. The first sheaf of the harvest was offered 
and waved before the Lord on the 16th : bread, parched corn, and 
green ears, could not be eaten unil that ceremony had been performed. 

" And the maima ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn 
of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat 
of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year." — Josh. v. 12. 

12. As the people had food enough, the manna ceased. It had 
given them sustenance through their years in the wilderness. The 
sudden and striking manner of its appearance, and its disappearance 
as soon as the people had entered their own country, where they were 
to dwell, are sufficient proof of the miraculous character of the gift. 
The natural products cf the land — natural, but not the less a divine 
creation and bestowment — were henceforth to supply the wants of 
the people. Miracles are for exceptional times and places. For ordi- 
nary circumstances, the ordinary provision of Providence is sufficient. 
Men are to till the ground, sowing and afterwards eating, and not to 
look for miracles to release them from work. Canaan would have 
been but a dreary land, if the need of manna was not over. 

"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes 
and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn 
in his hand ; and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or 
for our adversaries? 

" And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. 
And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him. 
What saith my Lord unto his servant? " — Josh. v. 13,- 14. 

13. Joshua was " by Jericho," that is, near it, observing its fortifi- 
cations probably, and the way of approach to it, and laying his plans 
for its capture. He was in the way of his duty, and preparing to exe- 
cute the will of God. If any man wills to do the will of God, he 
shall know. God will show his duty to one who shows himself will- 
ing to do it. Over against him he saw a man with a sword drawn 
in his hand. Who was this man? He called himself, " Captain of 
the host of the Lord." In chap. vi. 2 he is called " the Lord." 
The place where he stood was "holy." He was doubtless the one 
who appeared to Abram (Gen. xii. 7, and, again, Gen. xviii. 1, 2, 17), 
and to Jacob (Gen. xxxii. 24, 30). We may well believe that this was 



22 NOTES FOR TEACHERS' AND SCHOLARS. 

God manifest in the form of a man, the eternal Son of God in the 
form of a man. There could be no more difficulty in his appearing 
in this way than afterwards in his incarnation. For the promise of 
spiritual guidance, see Exod. xxiii. 23 ; Josh. i. 9. His drawn sword 
was in his hand (Num. xxii. 31). In view of the work which Joshua 
was to do as a soldier and general, this appearance was appropriate. 
There would be work for the sword of the Lord and of Joshua. 

The question which Joshua put to the man who appeared before 
him was of practical moment. Joshua was not afraid. He was glad 
to receive help if this man brought it, or willing to resist him if he 
was for the people of Jericho. It was a critical time. The great 
leader was in a strange place. He had a great work before him. He 
was moving carefully and confidently ; for the Lord was with him, as 
had been proved ; and the promise was large and sure. 

14. " The host of the Lord" was, it is most likely, the host of 
heaven, the angels (see 1 Kings xxii. 19; Ps. cxlviii. 2). One name 
given to Jehovah is " Lord of hosts " (1 Sam. i. 3), It is thought by 
some that by " the host of the Lord" the children of Israel were 
meant. But "the armed people of Israel are never called ' the host 
of the Lord,' though once spoken of in Exod. xii. 41 as ' all the hosts 
of the Lord,' " In this instance, the leadership of Israel would be 
included in the higher office. The Lord of the angels, the angel of the 
covenant, the Lord, the Son of God, came in the form of a man, to 
bring the people of God into the land where they were to dwell, to 
receive his revelation, to preserve his name and his law, to prepare 
the way for the coming of the Lord Jesus in the fulness of time. 
These preparatory events, looking on to that sublime consummation, 
were sufficiently important to warrant this coming of the Lord. 

What could be easier than for him to come in the form of those 
whom he had made in his own image, into whom he had breathed 
the breath of life ? The coming of God to man was more common in 
ancient days than most suppose, if we are to see him in " the angel 
of the Lord," " the angel of the covenant," called and honored as 
"the Lord." Read Gen. xvi. 13, xlviii. 15, 16; Exod. iii. 2-15; Isa. 
tedii. 7-9 ; Mai. iii. 1 ; Acts vii. 38. 

This man was to lead the Israelites. He assumed a place above 
Joshua. He was leader of the leader. Joshua was to obey him as 
his superior. Yet Joshua showed no unwillingness, no jealousy. He 
recognized the man, and fell on his face before him, and worshipped 
him. His act, and posture of worship, do not of necessity show that 
he gave him the reverence which is due only to God ; for before kings 
such acts of prostration were common (Gen. xlii. 6, 1. 18; 2 Sam. 



JOSHUA. 23 

ix. 6) ; but the whole narration intimates the divine character of the 
man, which would make religious reverence proper on the part of 
Joshua. If he meant to render this, and the man received it, it is clear 
who the man was (see Acts x. 25, 26; Eev. xix. 10). Joshua waited 
for the command of God. He knew his own commission, which had 
been sufficiently authenticated and confirmed. He was about to pur- 
sue the work committed to him by God; but he waited to hear 
what his Lord would say unto him. 

" And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from 
off thy foot ; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." — 
Josh. v. 15. 

15. The first words of the Lord's reply attest his character. At 
Horeb, God called to Moses out of the midst of the burning bush, 
and said, "Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy 
feet; for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." It was 
the presence of the God of Abraham which made it holy. What 
less than that could make the ground holy which lay before pagan 
Jericho? It was the sign of reverence, which was asked, and 
promptly given. How grand Joshua appears ! And stooping down, 
the leader of the armies of Israel, he loosed his sandal from his foot 
at the word of the Lord. 

He was encouraged in the act, we may believe, by the knowledge 
of the great things which had come to Moses when he had obeyed the 
same command. From that act, Moses went on to the work which 
had fallen into the hands of Joshua. When he put the shoe from 
his foot, he showed himself obedient to One who was over him, and 
that he was ready to receive instructions for his work. 

This was the first place in the land of Canaan which was called 
"holy." Joshua listened reverently. The first verse of chap. vi. 
tells us the condition of Jericho. Its gates were shut. Before a 
people at whose approach the Jordan fled, the city which lay in their 
path might well be afraid. They knew not what would come. They 
let no one go out, and no one come in. They sent no proposals : they 
made no assault. They shut the doors, and waited. This verse is 
parenthetical : verses 2-5 are the words of the captain, or prince of 
the host of the Lord. He assured Joshua that the city, and its king 
and army, were given into his hand. The Lord, that is Jehovah, said 
this. He then told Joshua in what way he should take the place. 
Joshua summoned the priests, and gave them his instructions, and 
also the people. Preparations for the capture of the city were at 
' once begun. 



24 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 
PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. God remembers his covenant. Israel had suffered long ; but the 
promise made to Abram was sure to be fulfilled. 

2. When God chastens, it is in mercy. If we obey him, our 
reproach will be " rolled away." 

3. We are never so much pressed with work that we cannot think 
of God, and worship him. The time spent in acts of devotion is well 
bestowed. 

4. We should expect God to speak to us, and, when he speaks, listen 
attentively and obediently. 

5. Mark the promptness of true obedience, and the grandeur of the 
promptness. " And Joshua did so." 

Lessor V. — Jericho taken. — Chap. vi. 12-20. 
Jericho was an ancient city, and one of importance in the land. 
It was enclosed by walls ; and these were so strong and broad, that 
Kahab had a house resting upon them. It was a rich city, as is 
evident from the quantity of spoil found in it. It was " the capital, as 
it may be called, of the Valley of the Jordan, and the only important 
city in its whole course. ... It stands at the entrance of the main 
passes from this valley into the interior of Palestine. ... It was 
thus the key of Palestine to any invader from this quarter." The 
first mention made of Jericho is when Joshua sent the two spies 
from Shittim, who were received by Kahab. 

"And Joshua rose early in the morning; and the priests took up the ark of 
the Lord. 

* 'And seven priests, bearing seven trumpets of rams' horns before the ark 
of the Lord, went on continually, and blew with the trumpets : and the armed 
men went before them ; but the rearward came after the ark of the Lord, the 
priests going on, and blowing with the trumpets." — Josh, vi. 12, 13. 

12. It is not said that Joshua gave to the priests and people the 
assurance of success which the Lord had given to him. They had 
reason to expect this from the favors hitherto shown them, and the 
promise in whose strength they were advancing. 

It was an eventful day upon which Joshua entered. It may have 
been a wakeful night which preceded it. He rose early for the duties 
of the day. 

" The priests, took up the ark of the Lord." This was in accord- 
ance with Joshua's previous directions after he had himself been 
instructed (vers. 4, 6). 



JOSHUA. 25 

13. This is not the way in which armies usually march to the con- 
quest of a strong city ; but they were all acting under divine guid- 
ance. !Sot with the silver trumpets which Moses was directed to 
make for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the 
camps did the host go up to the city, but with the trumpets used in 
the jubilee. These were probably made of the horns of rams or oxen at 
first, and afterwards of metal wrought into the same shape, and keep- 
ing the old name. The trumpets used at Jericho may have been made 
either of horns or of metal ; but the latter is more likely. The host 
was led by the armed men, or warriors ; next came the priests with 
their trumpets, then the ark, and last the rear-guard. Save the 
sound of the trumpets, there was no sound to be heard. " Ye shall 
not shout, nor make any noise with your voice ; neither shall any 
word proceed out of your mouth" (ver. 10). It was a warlike pro- 
cession, led by soldiers ; but it inarched in the name of the Lord. 
The ark was at the centre. The summons and warning to the city 
came from the priests. It was a religious march. The weapons of 
this warfare were not chiefly carnal, but spiritual, unseen, divine, 
yet mighty to the pulling-down of strongholds. It must have been 
with peculiar feelings that the people of Jericho saw this strange 
sight, such a company going day by day around the walls. Some 
would deride ; but others would think of Jordan, and fear. 

'•'And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the 
camp : so they did six days. 

" And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they rose early, about the 
dawning of the day, and compassed the city after the same manner seven times : 
only on that day they compassed the city seven times." —Josh. vi. 14, 15. 

14. The first day's march is recorded in verses 9-11 ; the second, in 
verses 12-14. For six days this continued. The impatience of the 
people was resisted. Joshua was willing to obey. The command 
might seem strange, and the requisition needless : but his part was to 
obey in spirit and letter. 

15. The seventh day came at last, — the day of promise (vers. 
4,5). The Jewish writers say that this was the sabbath. One day of 
the seven must, of course, have been the sabbath. The usual order 
for the sabbath was so far modified as to allow of this march of obe- 
dience. The Lord of the sabbath could change his requirement, if 
he would. The company rose early. Seven times were they to go 
about the city on that day. 

The sacred number seven is prominent in this narrative. There 
were seven priests, with seven trumpets : they were to go around the 
3 



26 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

city for seven days, and on the seventh day seven times. The use of 
this number indicates the religious character of the transaction. 
, It is not necessary to suppose, that, in these marches, the whole two 
millions of the Israelites to.ok part. Probably the procession was 
made up of their military forces, with the seven priests, and the ark 
standing for the Lord. 

"And it came to pass at the seventh time, when the priests blew with the 
trumpets, Joshua said unto the people, Shout; for the Lord hath given you 
the city. 

" And the city shall be accursed, even it, and all that are therein, to the Lord, 
^nly Rahab the harlot shall live, she and all that are with her in the house, 
"because she hid the messengers that we sent. 

" And ye in any wise keep yourselves from the accursed thing, lest ye make 
^ mrselves accursed when ye take of the accursed thing, and make the camp 
**( Israel a curse, and trouble it." — Josh. vi. 16-18. 

16. To go around the great city seven times, with intervals of rest, 
^vould require many hours; so that it would be towards evening 
tfhen the last march was finished. 

On this last march the priests blew with the trumpets ; and Joshua 
^aid to the people, "Shout; for the Lord hath given you the city" 
(see vers. 2, 5). 

17. Joshua declared the city accursed, or devoted (see Lev. xxvii. 
28, 29). All in the city were to be put to death, except Rahab and 
aer household, who were spared in return for her kindness to the 
spies. " In other cases, the inhabitants only of the towns were slain: 
their cattle and property became the booty of the victors. But Jeri- 
cho, as the first Canaanitish city that was captured, was devoted by 
Esrael as first-fruits to God, as a token that Israel received all the land 
from him." The city, the people, the cattle, were doomed. This 
was evidently by the divine direction (see Deut. vii. 2). The destruc- 
tion of Jericho would affect the whole country which joined in the 
defence of this important place (chap. xxiv. 11). It was necessary 
that these people should be driven out, if the Israelites were .to possess 
the land promised to them and to their fathers. Moreover, the 
Canaanites were a wicked, Pagan people, deserving the affliction 
which the Lord in this way sent upon them. 

18. None of the booty usually given to conquerors was Israel to 
have. Taking an accursed thing would involve the people in the 
curse (Deut. vii. 26, xiii. 17). It was necessary that the authority 
of the Lord should be impressed upon the Israelites. This was no 
ordinary conquest, and should have more than the ordinary rules. 

"But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated 
onto the Lord: they shall come into the treasury of the Lord. 



JOSHUA. 27 

" So the people shouted when the priests blew with the trumpets; and it came 
to pass, when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted 
with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the 
city, every man straight before him, and they took the city." — Josh. vi. 19, 20. 

19. The silver and gold, the vessels of brass and iron, were conse- 
crated, and were to come into the treasury of the Lord. There would 
be holy uses found for these when the people were established. 

20. Here we have the fall of the city. At the sound of the trum- 
pets, the listening people shouted as they were bidden, " and the wall 
fell down flat." The way was open, and they went up into the city, 
and they took the city. Thus was the promise fulfilled. 

This was another miracle. There were no natural causes to throw 
down the strong walls. The city might well defy the assaults of the 
hosts of Israel, little used to war, illy provided with munitions of war, 
powerless before the walls and towers of a strong place like Jericho. 
They obeyed ; and their obedience gave them the victory. It was 
God's gift. He was able to do this. He did it. 

"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down." Faith showed itself in 
the patient waiting, in the absence of attempt to take the city by 
force or guile, in the marches of seven days, in the final shout. 
They believed God. 

The miracle was of great value. It gave the children of Israel 
renewed assurance of the designs of God, and impressed the Canaan- 
ites with the hopelessness of resisting those whom the Lord was 
leading. If sea and river and walls gave way at their coming, who 
could withstand them ? 

The required destruction was visited upon the people and the cattle 
" with the edge of the sword." Eahab's house was recognized by the 
spies who had lodged in it; and the scarlet line was seen bound in the 
window; and she, and her father, mother, brethren, and all her 
kindred, were saved. The woman's faith was abundantly rewarded. 
At first she and her father's household were left without the camp 
of Israel; for they were not of the Lord's people. Yet she was 
afterwards received, and dwelt with Israel. 

Then the city was burned ; and nothing more was known to be 
saved, but the things set apart for the treasury of the Lord. Finally 
Joshua put an oath upon the people: " Cursed be the man before the 
Lord that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay 
the foundation thereof in his first-born ; and in his youngest son shall 
he set up the gates of it." What was left of Jericho fell to the tribe 
of Benjamin. In 1 Kings xvi. 34, we read of the attempt of Hie] 
to rebuild Jericho, — a fatal undertaking, according to the word of 



28 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

the Lord, which he spake by Joshua. Jericho again became a place 
of considerable importance, and is found in both the Old and the 
New Testaments. 

" The Lord was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout 
all the country." 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. We are to obey God, even in strange things. 

2. Faith makes obedience easy. 
8. Obedience is rewarded. 

4. With God, nothing is impossible. 

5. If the scarlet line is bound in our window, the precious blood of 
Christ sprinkled upon our souls, we are safe. 



Lessor YI. — Achan's Stn t . — Chap. vii. 6-15. 

After Jericho was taken, Joshua prepared to advance to the further 
conquest and possession of the land. He sent men up to view AL 
The precise situation of Ai cannot be determined. It was at the east 
of Bethel, and near it, and north-west of Jericho, and distant from it 
some thirteen miles. It was in existence in Abram's time (Gen. 
xii. 8). Joshua sent up men to examine the place and the approaches 
to it. The spies came back, and reported that the people of Ai were 
but few. The population of Ai is given in chapter viii. 25 as twelve 
thousand. The number of its warriors was, therefore, not very large ; 
and two or three thousand men were deemed sufficient to conquer 
them, and take their city. About three thousand were sent up for 
this purpose. Little as it was expected, the men of Ai put the sol- 
diers of Israel to flight, without even a battle it seems, and chased 
them even unto Shebarim. The invaders lost thirty-six men ; but the 
effect upon them was disastrous ; " for the hearts of the people melted, 
and became as water." The signal successes they had enjoyed left 
them poorly prepared for this utter defeat. 

" And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the 
ark of the Lord, until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon 
their heads. 

" And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this 
people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us ? 
would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan ! " — Josbl 
vii. 6, 7. 



JOSHUA. 29 

6. Joshua was greatly distressed. His mourning was expressed by 
the signs common in the East. He rent his clothes, and threw him- 
self on his face before the ark, that is, before the Lord ; and, with 
the elders of Israel, he put dust upon his head (see Gen. xxxvii. 29; 
Lev. x. 6; Num. xx. 6; 1 Sam. iv. 12; 2 Sam. i. 2). 

7. Joshua poured out his heart before God in lamentation and 
prayer. His words are not meant for complaint, though they sound 
much like the murmuring of his people in the wilderness (compare 
Num. xx. 3-5). But Joshua was surprised, bewildered. He could not 
understand why so much had been done, if all was now to be undone. 
It had been better to have remained on the other side of the Jordan. 

He had not lost faith in God ; f or^ he acknowledged the favors 
already bestowed, and confessed that the Lord could still do as he 
would. With such power, with such purposes as he had declared, 
with such wonders as he had performed, it was inexplicable that 
Israel should have been repulsed before the second place which they 
approached in the land given to them. If such were God's will, 
Joshua would submit ; but filled with wonder, disappointment, con- 
fusion, he cried unto God. 

"O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their hacks before their ene- 
mies! 

" For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and 
shall environ ns round, and cut off our name from the earth ; and what wilt thou 
do unto thy great name? " — Josh. vii. 8, 9. 

8. What could he say in explanation of this strange defeat? He 
did not understand it. What should he say to Israel ? How should 
he explain the situation, support their faith, revive their courage, 
keep them loyal to the Lord, who had suffered them to be chased by 
Pagans ? With the backs, literally the necks, of Israel toward their 
foes, while yet the work of conquest was scarcely begun, what could 
he say to them ? 

9. What could he say to the Canaanites, who knew that Israel had 
come up under the guidance of Jehovah? God had shown himself 
mighty at the sea and river, powerful against the walls of Jericho ; 
and now all was reversed. His people were chased by his enemies. 
These would take courage, and, seeing that the power of the Lord was 
no longer with the Israelites, would gather about them, and utterly 
destroy them, so that not even their name would be left. Where, then, 
would be the covenant made with their fathers, the promises many 
times renewed ? Sad as it would be to have the name of Israel con- 
temned and destroyed, worse would it be to have the name of the 



30 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

Lord brought into dishonor. " What wilt thou do unto thy great 
name?" Canaan would continue to despise him, and serve their 
own gods. Israel would be blotted out, would perish, feeling that 
God had forsaken her, and broken his word of promise, renewed in 
miracles. Who would there be to pay him reverence, maintain his 
law, preserve his name ? This was the consummation of the appeal. 
Canaan might prevail, which would be the success of rebellion ; Is- 
rael might be destroyed, which would be the exterminating of God's 
people : but, worse than all in these calamities, the name of God 
would become a reproach (compare the prayers of Moses in Exod. 
di. 9-14; Num. xiv. 11-14; Deut. ix. 26-29). 



"And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up : wherefore liest thou thus upon 
thy face? 

"Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I 
commanded them ; for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also 
stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among then* own stuff." 
— Josh. vii. 10, 11. 

10. The Lord roused Joshua with a quick call. Why should the 
man despair ? This was strange ; but other things had been strange. 
Could Joshua tell how the Eecl Sea had been parted, or the Jordan 
had rolled back its waters, or the stout walls of Jericho fallen at the 
blast of a trumpet, and the sound of men's voices ? The Lord had 
done these things. What room was there for despair, though a 
strange discomfiture had befallen Israel ? Every thing was strange ; 
but God was in all: every strange thing had worked for Israel's 
advantage. " Get thee up: wherefore liest thou upon thy face?" 
There was more work for Joshua. 

11. Joshua seems to have had no suspicion of the real cause of 
Israel's calamity. The Lord disclosed the cause: " Israel hath 
sinned." Read again chap. vi. 18. The spoil of this idolatrous 
city was to be burned, save certain things preserved for the treasury 
of the Lord. Israel had transgressed this commandment. Israel had 
taken of the devoted thing. They had stolen this ; for it was the 
Lord's: they had dissembled regarding it, professing to have nothing 
which was not their own : they had appropriated it to their own use, 
h'ding it among their own stuff. Notice the accumulation of charges 
concerning one transaction. 

" Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but 
turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed : neither will 
I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed thing from among you. 

"Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow; for 
thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, 
O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the 
accursed thing from among you." — Josh. vii. 12, 13. 



JOSHUA. 31 

12. In disobeying God, they had broken the covenant with him, 
which was based upon their obeying his word. If they were obedi- 
ent, they should be established in their own land. They had put 
themselves without the pale of his covenanted protection ; and hence 
they turned their backs before their enemies. They had made the 
camp of Israel accursed (chap. vi. 18) ; and the curse was seen in 
their flight and fear. 

Nor was this the end. Except they destroyed the accursed from 
among them, the Lord would be with them no more. The accursed 
thing was to be found ; and he who had it was to be put to death. 

It was of the first importance that Israel should obey God. To 
serve him is an end in itself. If this new nation, entering a new 
land, setting up new institutions, preparing blessings for coming gen- 
erations, should begin with transgressing the commandment of God, 
and this should be adhered to, the whole plan was defeated. There 
were godless men enough everywhere. Nothing was to be gained by 
thrusting out the Canaanites, "idolaters in form, and bringing in the 
Israelites, idolaters in spirit. 

This was one act ; but it was a whole sin : it was the act of Adam 
and Eve over again, the putting of self above God and his law. 
Such a spirit must be rebuked at the outset. It must be settled then 
and there, that God is to be perfectly obeyed. Loyalty was to be 
entire. Then the name and law and honor of God would be main- 
tained, and through Israel all nations of the earth should be blessed. 

13. Joshua was to arise, and to summon the people. By religious rites 
they were to prepare themselves for the morrow. Joshua lay before 
the ark till eventide, and it was too late to do the work that day. But 
Israel was to be told what was to be done. The reason of the disas- 
ter at Ai was to be shown to them. There was an accursed thing 
among them. Until that was put away, they could not stand before 
their enemies. Having that would not make the enemies stronger ; 
but it would deprive Israel of the help of the Lord, and bring upon 
them his chastening by the hand of their foes. 

" In the morning, therefore, ye shall be brought according to your tribes : and it 
shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families 
thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households ; and 
the household which th* Lord shall take shall come man by man. 

" And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt 
with, fire, he and all that he hath ; because he hath transgressed the covenant of 
the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel." — Josh. vii. 14, 15. 

14. In the morning they were to come out, tribe by tribe. Th^ 
tribe in which the accursed thing was to be found was determined 



32 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

by the Lord, then the family in that tribe, then the household, then 
the man. This process of selection was apparently made by lot. 
" The Hebrew word for lot suggests that small stones, probably white 
and black ones, were used. These were probably drawn from a chest : 
hence the expression used of the lot, that it came up (xviii. 11), and 
came out (xix. 1). The lot was regarded as directed in its result by 
God (Prov. xvi. 33, where, perhaps, the lap may mean an urn or 
chest), and hence was used on every mlportant occasion by the Jews, 
and by other nations in ancient times. Among many instances of the 
use of the lot, the following may be referred to : Lev. xvi. 8 ; Num. 
xxvi. 55; Judg. xx. 9, 10; 1 Sam. x. 20, xiv. 41, 42; Joel iii. 3; Jonah 
i. 7 ; Matt, xxvii. 35 ; Acts i. 26.- This was a simple way of determin- 
ing a matter beyond the range of ordinary knowledge. The point to 
be especially noticed is, that the direction of the lot, the bringing out 
of the result, was of the Lord. It was hence a sacred act, to be used 
solemnly, and not in idle sport. It was an appeal to divine wisdom 
and counsel. 

15. The man who was detected was to be stoned with stones (ver. 
25), and then burned with fire, "he and all that he hath." The 
law provided, that, in extreme cases, the body should be burned, 
which would be an increase of the penalty. It was said, " Israel hath 
sinned." Here the sinful act is brought down to one man. His sin 
involved Israel in calamity. If Israel should find the offender, and 
punish him, the guilt would be removed with the guilty man. If 
Israel should refuse to do this, the act would virtually be accepted as 
that of the people, and the penalty would fall upon the whole. 

The remainder of the chapter finishes the story. Joshua rose early, 
and followed the Lord's direction. Finally Achan stood alone as the 
guilty man. By slow degrees he had seen the circle narrowing, till 
at last he was found at the centre. He confessed his sin, and told 
what he had taken, and where the spoil was to be found. When it was 
brought out, Achan, his sons and daughters, his cattle and sheep, and 
the devoted things from Jericho, were carried into the Valley of 
Achor. "And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them 
with fire, after they had stoned them with stones." It is not expressly 
stated that the sons and daughters were put to death ; but this is im- 
plied. It may be they were partakers in the sin, or in the concealment 
which followed the taking of the accursed thing. It was forbidden 
bylaw (Deut. xxiv. 16) that the children should be put to death for the 
fathers. " Every man shall be put to death for his own sin." This 
might be extended by express command, and the household destroyed 



JOSHUA, 33 

for the guilt of its head, who acted for it. In Oriental countries it 
has in all ages been common to involve the children in the father's 
guilt and its punishment. The counterpart to this is seen in the bless- 
ings so often promised and given to children for their father's sake. 
The relationship of parent and child is held in high honor in the 
Scriptures, and the responsibility is proportionably great. 

The Valley of Achor " formed part of the northern border of Judah, 
(xv. 7), and must, therefore, have lain amongst the ridges which cross 
the plain to the south of Jericho. But its exact site is uncertain." 

There a great heap of stones was raised in memory of the sin of 
Achan and its terrible consequences. " So the Lord turned from the 
fierceness of his anger." His favor returned to Israel, which was 
purged from sin. In the next chapter we have an account of the 
taking of Ai, the burning of the city, the slaughter of its people, and 
the hanging of its king. Thus the Israelites advanced another step 
in the conquest of the land. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. While we are led by God, we are still to walk prudently. Joshua 
sent spies to the city, which he felt sure would be his. 

2. When God commands, we are to obey implicitly. 
. 3. If we obey God, we may be sure of success in life. 

4. " Be sure your sin will find you out." 

5. Mark the glory of the gospel. We sin ; but Christ has died, and 
we can be forgiven. 



Lesson VII. — Ebae and Gerizim. — Chap. viii. 30-35. 

Following the account of the destruction of Ai, we have the reading 
of the law, and the pronouncing of its blessings and curses. This is 
a fitting transaction to mark the entrance of the people into their own 
land. It was well that they should understand the constitution 
under which they were to live. It is thought by some that the pas- 
sage now to be considered is out of its proper place. From Gilgal, 
where Israel was encamped, to Ebal, was about thirty miles. The 
march and the return, with the tarry at the mountains, would occupy 
several days, perhaps a week, and be attended with many difficulties 
and dangers. The women and children and strangers attended the 
men, making a large host. The country they were to enter was still 
in possession of the enemy. Of course, all this could have been done 



34 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

with no more difficulty than had been overcome at other times. But 
there is no account of any miraculous aid. It is quite likely that this 
incident belongs to a later period of the history ; but this is not certain. 
Many manuscripts place these verses after the second verse of the next 
chapter. It is conjectured by one recent writer that their true place 
is at the end of the eleventh chapter. Their precise place is of less 
account than the facts narrated, with regard to which all is clear. 

" Then Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel in Mount Ebal." — 
Josh. viii. 30. 

30. Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim were near the southern boun- 
dary of that part of the Holy Land afterwards known as Samaria. 
They were at the side of the valley in which was the ancient Shechem. 
Ebal was on the northern side, and Gerizim on the southern. Ebal rose 
to about twenty-seven hundred feet above the level of the sea, and Geri- 
zim twenty-six hundred. The former was about a thousand, and the 
latter about nine hundred feet above the town in the valley. There 
is much historical interest attached to these mountains and the 
region they occupy. 

On Mount Ebal Joshua built an altar unto the Lord God of Israel. 
The name was not spoken there for the first time. At Shechem, Abram 
built an altar. There Jacob bought a parcel of ground, in which 
Joseph was afterwards buried, and which became the inheritance of 
his children (Josh. xxiv. 32). It is supposed to have been on Gerizim 
that Abraham prepared to offer Isaac in sacrifice. But for a long 
time the Canaanite had been in the land ; and the name and law of 
Jehovah had ceased to be regarded. The time was come for better 
things. 

" As Moses the servant of the Lord commanded the children of Israel, as it is 
written in the book of the law of Moses, an altar of whole stones, over which no 
man hath lifted up any iron; and they offered thereon burnt offerings unto the 
Lord, and sacrificed peace offerings." — Josh. viii. 31. 

31. In building the altar, Joshua was acting under the direction of 
Moses. The twenty-seventh chapter of Deuteronomy gives the com- 
mand which Joshua was now obeying. The altar was to be built of 
whole stones. The stones were not to be hewn (Exod. xx. 25) ; " for, 
if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it." If they were 
allowed to cut the stones, there would be danger that they would come 
to carve upon them some representation of the deity, or such other 
figures and ornaments as would lead to superstition. God is spirit; 
and no graven image of him was to be made. He was to be worshipped 
in spirit and in truth. It was in this very place that our Saviour 
declared these truths to the Samaritan woman. It was very common 



JOSHUA. 35 

among ancient nations to erect altars of rough stone. There may 
have been a symbolical reason for building the altars of Israel of 
stones in their natural state. In making an offering for sin, man's 
part was small: the virtue was in the sacrifice. Not a beautiful 
altar reconciled the sinner to God, but a perfect sacrifice, offered in 
sincerity of penitence and faith. 

On this altar they offered burnt offerings unto the Lord. We have 
the command for burnt offerings in Exod. xxix. 38-42. " The main 
idea is the offering of the whole victim to God, representing (as tin? 
laying of the hand on its head shows) the devotion of the sacrifices 
body and soul, to him. Of the peace offering we read in Lev. vii. 
11-21. This was in recognition of the bounty of God, and a sign of 
thankful homage to him. After certain portions of the sacrifice wero 
given to the priest, the remainder of the flesh was eaten by the sac- 
rificer. "It betokened the enjoyment of communion with God, at 
1 the table of the Lord,' in the gifts which his mercy had bestowed.' 7 
Both of these offerings were appropriate at the entrance of the Isra- 
elites into the land which the Lord had given them, in which he was 
establishing them by miracles. Head Ps. li. 16, 17 ; Rom. xii. 1 ; 
Heb. xiii. 15, 16. 

" And he wrote there upon the stones a copy of the law of Moses, which he 
wrote in the presence of the children of Israel." — Josh. viii. 32. 

32. " He wrote upon the stones." It would seem from this passage 
that he wrote on the stones of the altar. But in Deut. xxvii. 2, 3, 
we read that stones, "great stones," were to be set up, and covered 
with "plaster," and that the writing was to be on these; so that 
there were probably two or more sets of stones. " Stones and even 
rocks are seen in Egypt, on the Peninsula of Sinai, containing inscrip- 
tions made three thousand years ago, in painted plaster, of which, 
owing to the serenity of the climate, the coating is as firm, and the 
color as fresh, as if it had been put on yesterday. ... It is most prob- 
able that Moses learned the art from the Egyptians." Upon these 
stones was written " a copy of the law of Moses." This could hardly 
have been a copy of all the laws given by Moses. The inscription 
may have contained simply the blessings and curses afterwards read 
to the people, or it may have been made up of the Decalogue alone. 
The latter seems the more probable. Compare Deut v. 6-21 and 
Deut. xxvii. 3 with this thirty-second verse. By writing the Ten 
Commandments where they could be seen, the people would have 
them more forcibly presented to their minds. So long as the writing 
endured, there would be a vivid presentation of the law of the Lord, 
the law of the land, the constitution of the nation. "It is a great 



36 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

mercy to any people to have the law of God in writing ; and it is fit 
that the written law should be exposed to common view in a known 
tongue, that it may be seen and read of all men. Kead Deut. xvii. 
18-20. 

" And all Israel, and their elders and officers, and their judges, stood on this 
side the ark and on that side, before the priests, the Levites, which bare the ark 
of the covenant of the Lord, as well the stranger, as he that was born among 
them ; half of them over against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against 
Mount Ebal; as Moses the servant of the Lord had commanded before, that they 
should bless the people of Israel. 

" And afterward he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings, 
according to all that is written in the book of the law." — Josh. viii. 33, 34. 

33. The people were then divided. The ark was in the centre. On 
one side was one portion of the people, — the elders, officers, and 
judges ; and the remainder on the other side, " half of them over 
against Mount Gerizim, and half of them over against Mount Ebal." 
The division of the tribes is given in Deut. xxvii. 12, 13. The com- 
mand of Moses is in Deut. xi. 26-29, xxvii. 11-14. 

34. When the division was made, the Levites were to " speak, and 
say unto all the men of Israel with a loud voice" (Deut. xxvii. 14). 
The distance of these two mountains each from the other was not so 
great as to make this narrative surprising. " A voice can be heard 
without difficulty across the valley separating the two spots in 
question." On account of the clear, elastic atmosphere of the East, 
a voice is readily heard at a great distance. In this case it would 
appear that the Levites, or priests, stood in the valley, nearthe ark 
which held the law, with half of the people on each side of them ; so 
that their voices would have to reach over but half the distance 
between the two divisions of Israel in order to be heard by every 
person. The responses of the great multitude on either mount 
would easily be heard upon the other. 

Joshua " read all the words of the law." He read not with his 
own voice, but by the priests, who were under his control. The next 
verse tell,s more fully what was read: " There was not a word of all 
that Moses commanded which Joshua read not." "It would seem 
that Joshua, on the present occasion, must have read, at least, all 
the legislative portion of the Pentateuch before the people." Pro- 
vision had been made for the stated reading of the law once in seven 
years (Deut. xxxi. 9-11). The design of the reading is stated with 
the command (Deut. xxxi. 12, 13). The people needed to be re- 
minded of their duty. There were also strangers corning - among 
them, and children born who needed instruction. Their prosperity 
depended upon their obeying the law of the Lord, and keeping cove- 



JOSHUA. 37 

nant with hini. To this end it was necessary that they should know 
their duty. 

But, besides the law itself, the blessings and cursings written with 
it were also read by Joshua's command. What these were we see 
in Deut. xxvii., xsviii. The curses are given in their full form: 
the blessings are not so formally expressed. The priests recited one 
blessing with their faces turned towards Gerizim: "Blessed is the 
man that maketh not a graven or molten image." The multitude on 
that mountain responded in a united shout of, "Amen." Then, 
turning to Ebal, the priests read one of the curses: "Cursed be the 
man that maketh any graven or molten image," when from that 
mountain rolled down to the ark, and over to the opposite host, the 
loud " Amen." By this response, the people consented to the law. 
They were willing to be blessed on these terms ; and, if they incurred 
the curse, it was just it should fall upon them. The propriety of 
having the "Amen" proceed from the people, and not from the 
priest, would be too obvious to need even a passing notice, were it not 
so common now for the same man to offer the blessing, or the prayer 
for blessing, and then indorse his own words by adding the " Amen." 

The former method of reading and responding appears to have 
been applied to each blessing and each curse in its turn. The whole 
scene must have been most solemn and impressive. " On Mount 
Gerizim were stationed the descendants of Kachel and Leah, the two 
principal wives of Jacob, and to them was assigned the most pleasant 
and honorable office of pronouncing the benedictions ; while on the 
twin-hill of Ebal were placed the posterity of the two secondary 
wives, Zilpah and Bilhah, with those of Keuben who had lost the 
primogeniture, and Zebulon, son of Leah, youngest son: to them 
was committed the necessary but painful duty of pronouncing the 
maledictions." 

" There was not a word of all that Moses commanded, which Joshua read not 
before all the congregation of Israel, with the women, and the little ones, and the 
strangers that were conversant among them." — Josh. viii. 35. . 

35. Not only were the rulers and men of Israel present at this 
repetition of the law, with its blessings and curses, but " the women, 
and the little ones, and the strangers that were conversant among 
them." The duty of knowing and serving God was common to all, and 
should be made known to all. The covenant offered its mercies to 
all ; and every one should know what the Lord would do for him. 
This act was a sort of naturalization of all the people, as the people of 
the Lord in the land of promise. The covenant embraced children's 
children, who should be instructed in their duties and privileges as 
members of the household of God. 



38 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

These verses mark a farther advance of Israel. No other city had 
been taken, no new miracle encouraged them; but they had been 
brought near to God, and into the line of his covenanted blessings. 

PRACTICAL, THOUGHTS. 

1. We should pervade all our works with religion ; on every march, 
in every undertaking, build an altar unto the Lord God of Israel. 

2. In all acts done for God, obey him strictly. 

3. Bead his law where it is written : write it on the tables of the 
heart : keep it always in mind. \ 

4. He who blesses may punish. Choose the blessing, and make 
sure of it. 

5. Teach the law of God, and his gospel of grace, to the stranger 
and the child. 



Lesson VIII. — Caleb's Inheritance. — Chap. xiv. 6-15. 

After the events narrated in chap, viii., Joshua proceeded to the 
further conquest of the land. The Canaanitish kings united against 
him ; but he defeated them. " So Joshua took the whole land, accord- 
ing to all that the Lord said unto Moses. . . . And the land rested 
from war" (chap. xi. 23). There were, however, many districts 
which were not thoroughly subdued, though Joshua had marched 
victoriously up and down the country. At the beginning of chap, 
xiii. we have Joshua, " old, and stricken in years," and much land 
remaining yet to be possessed. Here begins an account of the divis- 
ion of the territory among the tribes, both that which had come 
into the possession of the Israelites, and that which the Canaanites 
were still holding. " Joshua is here bidden to allot the whole of the 
promised land out amongst the twelve tribes, in faith that God would 
perfect in due time that expulsion of the Canaanites which Joshua 
himself could not carry further." Two tribes and a half had already 
had their share of the land assigned to them by Moses in the district 
east of the Jordan : the land was assigned to the remaining tribes by 
lot. Before the casting of the lot began, the incident occurred 
which forms the subject of the present lesson. 

" Then the children of Judah came unto Joshua in Gilgal; and Caleb, the son 
of Jephunneh the Kenezite, said unto him, Thou knowest the thing that the 
Lord said unto Moses the man of God concerning me and thee in Kadr*h- 
bamea." — Josh. xiv. 6. 



JOSHUA. 39 

6. Joshua belonged to the tribe of Judah. Caleb was the son of 
Jephunneh, who was descended from Kenaz, who was a grandson 
of Esau, and one of the dukes of Edom (see Gen. xxxvi. 2, 4, 15). 
Caleb was descended from Adah, one of the Canaanitish wives of 
Esau. He was now coming, therefore, into the land which was his 
own, both on his ancestral side, and on that of his personal relations 
with the people of God. The Kenezites were an Edomitish tribe, of 
whose origin and place nothing is known. They "had ceased to 
exist in the time of Moses and Joshua." If they are mentioned in 
their proper place in Gen. xv. 19, of course they were not descended 
from the Kenaz just mentioned. But the origin of Caleb's desig- 
nation seems clear, though some have thought it was given him 
because of some remarkable victory obtained over the Kenezites, in 
the same way as Africanus, Germain cus, &c, were joined to the 
names of Roman generals. Caleb came to Joshua attended, proba- 
bly, by leading men of his tribe, and by his own kinsmen, to present 
his claim for a certain portion of the land before the division. 
His claim was supported by those who attended him. He made his 
appeal to a previous assignment made by Moses. If Moses had al- 
ready given him his portion, acting by divine direction, there was no 
reason for an appeal to the lot, as far as he was concerned ; and the 
land promised him should not be included in the territory to be 
divided. He appealed to the knowledge of Joshua himself. " Thou 
knowest." Moses is " the man of God." How blessed his memory! 
how strong the claim based upon what he had done ! He referred 
to the sayirjg of Moses at Kadesh-barnea. 

" Forty years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from 
Kadesh-Barnea to espy out the land; and I brought him word again as it was in 
mine heart." — Josh. xiv. 7. 

7. Kadesh-barnea was the place from which Mosas sent the men 
who were to spy out the land of Canaan. Caleb came back with a 
favorable report. He told what was in his heart. He did not speak 
to please Moses, to gratify the people, or to advance his own interests. 
He described the condition of things according to his best judgment. 
He encouraged the possession of the land. True, there were diffi- 
culties in the enterprise ; but he said, "If the Lord delight in us, 
then he will bring us into this land and give it to us. " 

" Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the peo- 
ple melt; but I wholly followed the Lord my God. 

"And Moses sware on that day, saying, Surely the land whereon thy feet have 
trodden shall be thine inheritance, and thy children's forever, because thou hast 
wholly followed the Lord my God. 



40 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

" And now, behold, the Lord hath kept me alive, as he said, these forty and five 
years, even since the Lord spake this word unto Moses, while the children of 
Israel wandered in the wilderness ; and now, lo, I am this day fourscore and five 
years old." — Josh. xiv. 8-10. 

8. In telling the truth about the land, and encouraging the people 
to enter it, relying on the divine assistance ; and in bidding them rebel 
not against the Lord, nor fear the people of' the land, saying, " The 
Lord is with us, fear them not," — in all this he was following the 
Lord fully. In obedience and trust he committed his way to him. 

His brethren, the other spies, except Joshua himself, brought back 
a fearful report. They magnified the dangers of the proposed under- 
taking. They had no confidence in success. They forgot that the 
Lord was their leader, and that he had promised them the victory. 
" We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger 
than we." But Caleb said, " Let us go up at once." The congrega- 
tion yielded to their fears, and lifted up their voice, and wept that 
night. Their heart had melted. 

9. "Moses sware." He promised after the Lord, repeating the 
divine gift: the promise was confirmed by an oath (see Heb. vi. 13). 
For the promise and its confirmation read Num. xiv. 21-24, 30 ; Deut. 
i. 34-36. 

10. Caleb acknowledged the goodness of God towards him. He 
had been preserved till the time should come for the fulfilment of the 
promise. All who were twenty years old and upwards, when that 
promise was made, had died, save Caleb and Joshua. It was a signifi- 
cant fact as these men stood face to face in the land they had dared 
to enter when others feared. 

That was forty-five years before. It was in the second year after 
the exodus that the land was searched by the spies, and that the 
heart of the people was made to melt. Then followed thirty-eight 
yeans of wandering, and their successors crossed the Jordan. Seven 
years of conquest had gone by after that. Caleb, forty years old 
when he received the promise, had come to be eighty-five. He was 
the oldest man in Israel, except Joshua. Caleb was twenty years 
older than any other man, except his faithful associate and illustrious 
commander. By the usual reckoning, Joshua was seven years older 
than Caleb. Caleb had a long experience of the goodness of God, 
and of his fidelity to all his promises. He bore witness to this in the 
presence of the people. Not his might, but the Lord, had kept him 
alive. To be alive was the marked fact ; for the rest had died. To be 
alive was a fact whose force Joshua would feel as no other man 
could. Caleb had been kept alive that the word of the Lord to him 



JOSHUA. 41 

might be fulfilled. His very existence was a confirmation of the 
promise. 

"As yet I am as strong this day as I ivas in the day that Moses sent me : as my 
strength ica.3 then, even so is my strength now, for war, both to go out, and to 
come in. 

•'Now, therefore, give me this mountain, whereof the Lord spake in that day; 
for thou heardest in that day how the Anakims were there, and that the cities 
were great and fenced: if so, be the Lord will be with me, then I shall be able 
to drive them out, as the Lord said." — Josh. xiv. 11, 12. 

11. But not merely" was his life spared: his strength remained. 
He was still equal to work. If his request demanded more warfare, 
he was ready for it. All the duties which would be laid upon him, he 
was able to bear. He had his old courage and unabated strength. 

12. He asked for the mountain country around Hebron. Hebron 
was twenty miles south of Jebus, or Jerusalem. It was one of the 
most ancient cities in the world. It was well known when Abram 
came into the land (Gen. xiii. 18). In Num. xiii. 22, we read, "Now 
Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt. It was the 
scene of many important events in the history of the patriarchs, and 
in the later history of their descendants. " The earliest seat of 
civilized life, not only of Judah, but of Palestine, was Hebron. . . . 
It needs but few words to give the secret of this early selection, of 
this long continuance, of the metropolitan city of Judah. Every 
traveller from the desert will have been struck by the sight of that 
green vale, with its orchards and vineyards, and numberless wells, 
and, in earlier times, we must add the grove of terebinths, or oaks, 
which then attracted from afar the eye of the wandering tribes. 
This fertility was in fact owing to its elevation into the cooler and 
the more watered region, above the dry and withered valleys of the 
rest of Judaea. Commanding this fertile valley rose Hebron on its 
crested hill. Beneath was the burial-place of the founders of their 
race. Caleb must have marked out the spot for his own, when, with 
the spies, he had passed through this very valley." 

In the narrative of the spying out of the land, we find this place 
mentioned (Num. xiii. 22). There were the sons of Anak, the 
giants, sons of the giants, " and we were in our own sight as grass- 
hoppers, and so we were in their sight." These were among the 
chief terrors who frightened the ten spies. The mighty and cruel 
Pagans, dwelling in great and fenced cities, among the mountains of 
a strange land, overcame the courage of those who found the land 
fruitful and desirable in itself: "We be not able to go up against 
the people." But Caleb said, " We are able," Seeing the perils, he 
4* 



c 

42 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

was desirous to go on. "The Lord is with us: fear them not." 
That courage had remained, and was strengthened . by the events 
which had filled forty-five years. " The Anakims had, in the course 
of Joshua's campaigns in the south, been expelled from the neigh- 
borhood of Hebron ; but they had only withdrawn to the neighbor- 
ing cities of Philistia" (Josh. xi. 21, 22). " Thence they had, 
as must be inferred from the text here, returned, and re-occupied 
Hebron, probably when Joshua and the main force of the Israelites 
had marched northward to deal with Jabin and his confederates." 

" And Joshua blessed Mm, and gave unto Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, Hebron 
for an inheritance. 

" Hebron, therefore, became the inheritance of Caleb, the son of Jephunneh the 
Kenezite, unto this day, because that he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel. 

" And the name of Hebron before teas Kirjath-arba; lohich Arba was a great 
man among the Anakims. And the land had rest from war." — Josh. xiv. 13-15. 

13. Joshua recognized the justice of Caleb's claim, and readily 
acceded to his request. It was doubtless very pleasant to him to be 
able thus to gratify one who had stood with him in a time of difficulty, 
and to fulfil the promise of the Lord by Moses, made so long before. 
He had confidence that Caleb could carry out the bold plan which he 
had formed. He gave him his blessing, — his personal and official 
blessing, — and gave him Hebron for an inheritance. 

14. So Hebron became the possession of Caleb and of his children, 
unto this day. The reason of this, which is repeated from the words 
of Caleb himself, is to be especially noted: "Because he hath wholiv 
followed the Lord God of Israel." Take in connection with this tne 
ground of his confidence when he asked for Hebron: "If so be the 
Lord shall be with me, then I shall be able to drive them out, as 
the Lord said." 

"Caleb finally drove out this formidable race, and occupied Hebron 
and its dependent towns and district permanently " (chap. xv. 13, 14). 

15. The name of the place was Kirjath-arba (Gen. xxiii. 2). This 
does not appear to have been the original name, but one given on the 
taking of the place by the Anakims. Possibly Hebron was the oldei 
name, and was merely a restoration by Caleb. Arba, as we are told 
in this verse, was " a great man among the Anakims," literally, 
"the great man, i.e., renowned ancestor, of the tribe, regarded as the 
founder of its greatness." " It was the city of Arba, the old Canaan- 
ite chief, with his three giant sons, under whose walls the trembling 
spies stole through the land by the adjacent valley of Eshcol." 
In 1 Sam. xxx. 11 we find the name of Caleb given to this region. 



JOSHUA. 43 

" The land had rest from war:" this is repeated from chap. xi. 23. 
It is " an intimation that the remaining Canaanilss did not molest the 
Israelites in the process of partitioning the conquered territory." 

We find among the six cities of ref nge " Kirjath-arba, which is 
Hebron, in the mountain of Judah " (chap. xx. 7). In the assign- 
ment of eight and forty cities by lot unto the Levites, we read, " They 
gave to the children of Aaron the priest, Hebron with her suburbs, to 
be a city of refuge for the slayer." " Tkey gave them the city of Arba 
the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill-country of Judah, 
with the suburbs thereof round about it ; but the fields of the city 
and the villages thereof, gave they to Caleb for his possession." 
When Caleb had the place, "he contented himself with the country 
about it, and cheerfully gave the city to the priests, the Lord's minis- 
ters ; thinking it could not be better bestowed, no not upon his own. 
children, nor that it was the less his own for being thus devoted to 
God." 

After this narrative, the Book of Joshua proceeds to describe the ] 
partitioning of the conquered land. 

PR ACTIO AL THOUGHTS. 

1. However long the time may be after a promise is made by the 
Lord, it is sure to be fulfilled. 

2. Faith in the Lord is well bestowed. In his strength we should 
be willing to go whither he directs. 

3. Experience of God's goodness should lead to enlarged faith in 
him. 

4. We should be generous in using all that the Lord puts into our 
hands. 



Lesson IX. — The Land divided. — Chap, xviii. 1-10. 

" And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at 
Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was 
subdued before them." — Josh, xviii. 1. 

1. The tabernacle was set up at Shiloh. Shiloh is placed, in Judg. 
xxi. 19, " on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway 
that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the south of Lebo- 
nah." This description makes evident that it was where the modern 
Seilem stands, two or three miles east of the main road, and about 
half-way between Jerusalem and the ancient Shechem, the modern 
Nablus. Of the tabernacle we read in Exod xxvi and in Heb. ix. It 



44 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

was the movable sanctuary of the people of God. Now that they 
were establishing themselves in their own land, the tabernacle should 
be set up, and the full services of religion perf ormed. In Deut. xii. 11 
we read, that, after crossing the Jordan, "there shall be a place 
which the Lord your God shall choose, and cause his name to dwell 
there." This was the place; and to it Joshua was probably guided. 
The place has no special attractions or interest apart from its connec- 
tion with the tabernacle and the ark. "Its choice as the national 
sanctuary may have been determined because of its insignificance, in 
order to avoid local jealousies, as well as because of its position in 
the very centre of the whole land, and perhaps, also, because of its 
seclusion." Its very name " Shiloh," or rest, "was probably bestowed 
at this juncture, when God had given the people rest from their ene- 
mies." "The ark of the covenant, which had been kept at Gilgal 
during the progress of the conquest, was removed thence on the 
subjugation of the country, and kept at Shiloh from the last days of 
Joshua to the time of Samuel." 

In the setting-up of the tabernacle, all the people were interested, 
and the whole congregation assembled. It was fitting that they 
should unite in the religious acts by which a place was consecrated 
for the especial dwelling of Him whose might and mercy had brought 
them to the land. The possession of the country was secured. 
They could set up the tabernacle without opposition on the part of 
the heathen nations around them. " The land was subdued before 
them." 

" And there remained among the children of Israel seven tribes which had not 
yet received their inheritance. 

" And Joshua said unto the children of Israel, How long are ye slack to go to 
possess the land which the Lord God of. your fathers hath given you? " — Josh. 
xviii. 2, 3. 

2. Two tribes, Eeuben and Gad, and half of Manasseh, had their 
portion on the east side of the Jordan. Judah and Ephraim, with the 
remaining half of Manasseh, had already been provided with territory; 
so that there remained seven tribes whose portion was yet to be as- 
signed. Although the tribe of Levi had no inheritance of a separate 
portion of the land, the tribe of Joseph was regarded as two tribes, 
under the names of Manasseh and Ephraim (chap. xiv. 3, 4; Gen. 
xlviii. 5). Thus the number twelve remained in the apportionment. 

3. The seven tribes were so well pleased with their situation, that 
they were in no haste to take possession of the land which belonged 
to them. Their life was in happy contrast to their experience * in the 
wilderness. The rest was full of comfort. They were not used to 



JOSHUA. 45 

fixed abodes in cities, and were slow to give up the freedom they had 
enjoyed. They were reluctant to part from those who had been born 
with them, and had shared their life thus far. There was hard work 
yet to be done, fierce enemies to be resisted, before they could have 
. quiet possession of new places ; and they shrunk from the hardship 
and peril which were involved in further attempts to possess the land. 
Joshua spoke to them in reproof: " How long are ye slack?" The 
Lord God had given them the land. They should not delay to take 
it. They had sought it ; and, now that it was within their reach, they 
should quickly seize it. While they waited, the enemy would grow 
stronger to resist them. They were to obey God, to trust in him, 
and to possess the land according to his commandment. The plan of 
the Lord reached farther than they could see. 

" Give out from among you three men for each tribe : and I will send them, 
and they shall rise, and go through the land, and describe it according to the 
inheritance of them ; and they shall come again to me. 

" And they shall divide it into seven parts : Judah shall abide in their coast on 
the south ; and the house of Joseph shall abide in their coasts on the north. 

" Ye shall therefore describe the land into seven parts, and bring the descrip- 
tion hither to me, that I may cast lots for you here before the Lord our God." — 
Josh, xviii. 4-6. 

4. The land before them was an unknown country. Before it could 
be fairly and intelligently divided, they must know what it was. 
Therefore Joshua directed that a commission should be formed of 
twenty-one competent men, three from each tribe, who should pass 
through the land, ascertain its general condition, find what cities 
were in it, and bring back their report. With the assignment of 
territory to the children of Joseph there had been dissatisfaction 
expressed (chap. xvii. 14), which made it more desirable that all 
pains should be taken with the future partition. 

5. Judah and Joseph were to retain the portion already granted to 
them, which was not to be included in the survey to be made. Those 
tribes were to be above and below the tabernacle and the ark, as the 
special guardians of the sanctuary. The rest of the land was to be 
divided into seven parts. 

6. Although the land was thus divided, the portion which each 
tribe was to have must still be determined, and by lot. The lot would 
determine the location of each tribe; but, in fixing its boundaries, 
regard was to be had to the number of people in the tribe (Num. xxvi. 
52-56). This was a sacred matter: hence the lot was cast before the 
Lord, that is, at the tabernacle. It was not an appeal to chance, but 
to Him who knows all things, and who has a right to placemen where 
he will. 



46 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

" But the Levites have no part among you; for the priesthood of the Lord is 
their inheritance: and Gad, and Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh, have 
received their inheritance beyond Jordan on the east, which Moses, the servant 
of the Lord, gave them. 

" And the men arose and went away ; and Joshua charged them that went to 
describe the land, saying, G-o and walk through the land, and describe it, and 
come again to me, that I may here east lots for you before the Lord in Shiloh. 

' ' And the men went and passed through the land, and described it by cities 
into seven parts in a book, and came again to Joshua to the host at Shiloh." — 
Josh, xviii. 7-9. 

7. For the Levites special provision had already been made (Xum. 
xviii. 20, 21; Deut. xviii. 1, 2,; chap. xiii. 14, 33). The tribe of Levi 
was the priestly tribe. The sons of Aaron were the high priests and 
priests ; and the other Levites were their assistants. But the common 
name Levites is sometimes made to cover the priests, as in this nar- 
rative (Exod. xxviii. 1). For the duties of the Levites proper, see 
Num. iv. " As the tabernacle was both the temple of God and the 
palace of the great King, so the Levites were both priests and officers 
of state." "It seems probable that the Levites all acted, when not 
engaged in the temple service, as the instructors of the people : they 
formed, in fact, the learned class." These ministers of religion were 
thus distinct from the people ; and this was to be marked in their ma- 
terial relation to the other tribes. " They were to have no territorial 
possessions : in place of them they were to receive from the others 
the tithes of the produce of the land," from which the Levites proper, 
in their turn, " offered a tithe to the priests " " as a recognition of their 
higher consecration" (Num. xviii. 21, 24). There were also assigned 
to the Levites forty-eight cities in different parts of the country, 
with a liberal allowance of land surrounding each (Num. xxxv. 1-8.) 
Six of these cities were to be cities of refuge, where the Levites 
would be the protectors of fugitives. Thus the priesthood, with its 
sacred honors and duties, and the provision made for the maintenance 
of its ministers, was a fitting inheritance for the Levites. On the 
gift of Moses to Gad, Keuben, and the half of Manasseh, see Num. 
xxxii. 33. 

8. These men were selected by the people, but received their 
instruction from Joshua, to whom they were to make their report 
for his guidance. 

9. They made a written description of the land in a book, making 
the cities the centres of their accounts, and divided the land into seven 
parts. This was no light work. It was not without its danger. Be- 
sides that, " it required learning and intelligence, which their instruc- 
tors had, in all probability, brought with them out of Egypt. , . . 



JOSHUA. 47 

The circumstantial account which is given of the boundaries of each 
tribe, and its situation, will prove it to have been the work of no mean 
or incompetent hands." Josephus says that Joshua sent some men 
skilled in geometry to aid in this work. 

"And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the Lord; and there Joshua 
divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their divisions." — Josh. 
xviii. 10. 

10. The men returned with their description of the land, and thei* 
division of it ; and Joshua proceeded to cast lots for its assignment 
among the seven tribes. 

We have, after this, an account of the territory assigned to each oi 
these seven tribes. When this was done, the children of Israel made 
provision for their great leader. " According to the word of the 
Lord, they gave him the city which he asked, Timnath-serah in 
Mount Ephraim ; and he built the city, and dwelt therein." There is 
no distinct command or promise of this kind recorded. Caleb seems 
to intimate that such a promise had been made in chap. xiv. 6. All 
must have seen that Joshua was worthy of this distinction. The 
site of his city cannot be determined. It was in the portion of Eph- 
raim, and probably some ten or twelve miles south-west of Shiloh. 
There Joshua was buried (chap. xxiv. 30). 

" So they made an end of dividing the country." 

PB ACTIO AX, THOUGHTS. 

1. In all new settlements the sanctuary should be erected very 
early. 

2. In all the events of life we should make a prompt recognition of 
God's goodness, and of our dependence upon him. 

3. In dealing with men we should be very careful that every one 
has all that he is entitled to. 

4. The laborer is worthy of his hire, and that even when the labor 
is in a sacred calling. 

5. All talent and learning can be employed in the service of the 
Lord. 

6. We should generously remember those who serve us in high 
offices, both for their work's sake and their own merit. 



48 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

Lesson X. — The Cities of Refuge. — Chap. xx. 1-9. 

" The Lord also spake unto Joshua, saying, 

" Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, 
whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses : 

" That the slayer that killeth any person unawares, and unwittingly, may flee 
thither : and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. 

" And when he that doth nee unto one of those cities shall stand at the enter- 
ing of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of 
that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that 
he may dwell among them." — Josh. xx. 1-4. 

1. Joshua was the leader still ; but he was under the direction of 
the Lord. The will of the Lord was supreme law. The constitution 
of the nation was of divine enactment. 

2. The command to Moses is found in Exod. xxi. 13, and in Num. 
xxxv., and Deut. xix. 1-13. 

3. The design of these cities is now stated. The important words 
are " unawares'' and "unwittingly." If a person wilfully killed 
another, the law for his punishment was to take its course (Gen. 
ix. 6). Though such a murderer should flee to one of these cities, he 
should not have protection there (Deut. xix. 11-13). But there would 
arise cases, where, by accident, one had taken the life of another. Be- 
tween accidental and intentional homicide was a wide distinction, 
which should be regarded in dealing with the person who had com- 
mitted the act. Our own laws graduate the punishment for homicide 
according to the circumstances under which the act was done. In 
certain cases there would justly be no punishment. In some countries, 
temples and altars, and even tombs, statues, and monuments, have 
been made an asylum where criminals and debtors could shelter them- 
selves from justice, and whence they could not be taken without a 
violation of the sanctity of the place. The vilest criminals among the 
ancient heathen could protect themselves in such places of refuge. 

4. The protection given in the Jewish cities of refuge was on a dif- 
ferent plan. The slayer was to be received and protected only under 
prescribed rules. He was to stand at the gate of the city, and " de- 
clare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city." If the elders 
thought there was reasonable ground for giving him shelter, they 
were to receive him, and let him dwell among them. He was thus 
received only provisionally. 

" And, if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the 
slayer up into his hand ; because he smote his neighbor unwittingly, and hated 
him not beforetime. 



JOSHUA. 49 

" And he shall dwell in that, city until he stand before the congregation for 
judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days : then 
shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto 
the city from whence he fled." — Josh. xx. 5, 6. 

5. If the "avenger of blood" should come to the city, and demand 
the slayer, the elders were not at once to deliver him. They were to 
stand between him and his accusers till he had been proved guilty of 
wilful murder. 

" The avenger of blood." The law of revenge is of great antiquity. 
By barbarous usage it was a point of honor, "as rigorous as that of 
modern duelling," for the nearest of kin to avenge the death of his rel- 
ative. He was known as his goel, or blood avenger. This usage is 
found among the Hebrews (see Gen. iv. 14, xxvii. 45; Num. xxxv. 12). 
The principle is natural in a rude state of society, but is manifestly 
liable to great abuses. "To mitigate the evils of a usage too firmly 
established to be rooted out, Moses appointed certain cities of refuge 
conveniently situated." "Human life, in all rude and barbarous 
tribes, is of cheap account; blood is shed on the least provocation; 
open or secret assassination is a common occurrence. The Hebrew 
penal code enforced the highest respect for the life of man. . . . The 
law demanded blood for blood ; but it transferred the exaction of the 
penalty from private revenge, and committed it to judicial authority." 

6. When the avenger should appear at the city, the accused man 
was to be taken before "the congregation- in judgment;" that is, 
before the local tribunal having jurisdiction in such matters. If it 
was found that he had committed deliberate murder, he was to be 
delivered to the avenger. If it was found that the homicide was acci- 
dental or justifiable, he was to remain in the city, where he would be 
safe. If he should go out of the city, and be found by the avenger, 
he might be put to death (Num. xxxv. 26-28). 

He was to remain in the city until the death of the high priest 
(Num. xxxv. 25). "He was not, indeed, to be put to death; but he 
was regarded as civilly dead until the death of the high priest. This 
death was a kind of termination of a period. With the death of the 
supreme judge was the remembrance of the deed committed during 
his term of office to be wiped away." 

If the slayer survived the high priest, he was at liberty to return to 
his own city. "And the Jews say, if he died before the high priest, 
in the city of his refuge and exile, and was buried there, yet, at the 
death of the high priest, his bones should be removed with respect to 
the place of his fathers' sepulchres." 
5 



50 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

" And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee, in Mount Naphtali, and Shechem in 
Mount Ephraim, and Kirjath-arba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah. 

"And on the other side Jordan, by Jericho, eastward, they assigned Bezer in 
the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead 
out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh. 

"These were the cities appointed for all the children of Israel, and for the 
stranger that sojourneth among them ; that whosoever killeth any person at un- 
awares might flee thither, and not die by the hand of the avenger of blood until he 
stood before the congregation." — Josh. xx. 7-9. 

7. The cities of refuge were included among the cities of the 
Levites. It was proper that they should be in different parts of 
the country. Three were on. each side of the Jordan. 

On the west of the river were Kedesh, in Galilee, at the north, a 
place of great antiquity; Shechem, or Sichem, in Mount Ephraim, 
between Ebal and Gerizim (Gen. xii. 6); and Kirjath-arba, which is 
Hebron, in Judah, at the south (chap. xiv. 13-15 ; Gen. xxiii. 2). 

8. On the east of the river were Bezer at the south, Kamoth in 
the middle, and Golan at the north. These three cities were secured 
by Moses for this purpose, as we find in Deut. iv. 41-43. 

9. These cities were provided not only for the children of Israel, 
but for " the stranger that sojourneth among them." The design 
was to protect the guiltless, and to insure to every man who had 
killed another a fair trial with the due form of law. In this pro- 
vision, as in others, we see the wise legislator and the humane man 
bringing the undisciplined people under his charge into a settled state, 
where each one should be protected in his right to "life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness," and a well-ordered nation should be estab- 
lished for the good of the whole world. 

In these cities of refuge we cannot fail to see the type of the protec- 
tion given in Christ (Heb. vi. 18). 

At the close of this portion of the history, read chap. xxi. 43-45. 



PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Wrong-doers should be punished. 

2. The wrong-doer is entitled to a fair trial, and to be heard in his 
own defence. 

3. The circumstances of an act have much to do in determining its 
character. 



JOSHUA. 51 

4. We deserve punishment for our sins. 

5. There is ample protection in Christ. Though we are fully 
guilty, and without excuse, there is safety in him. 

6. But, if we do not flee to this city of refuge, punishment will 
overtake us, and we shall be speechless. 

Lesson XI. — The Altar of Witness. — Chap. xxii. 21-27. 

The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half of Manasseh, were 
dismissed with a blessing to their home beyond the Jordan. When 
they came to the borders of the river, apparently before they crossed, 
they built a great altar. This immediately excited the other tribes, 
who were jealous for the honor of God, and fearful of bringing judg- 
ments upon the whole nation. They gathered themselves together 
at Shiloh to go up to war against their eastern brethren. They were 
very prompt. But they saw that it would be right to inquire of those 
who had angered them, for what reason they had built the altar, and 
to remonstrate with them against so perilous a deed. Accordingly 
they sent a deputation, consisting of the son of the high priest, and 
ten eminent men from the different tribes, to confer with the offend- 
ing tribes. They made their remonstrance in strong terms (vers. 
16-20), crowning their appeal with Achan's sad story. 

" Then the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of 
Manasseh answered, and said unto the heads of the thousands of Israel, 

" The Lord God of gods, the Lord God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall 
know ; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the Lord (save us not 
this day)." — Josh. xxii. 21, 22. 

21. Then the accused tribes made answer. Not resenting the 
charge, but explaining their act, they replied in terms of great dignity 
and strength. 

22. They were charged with rebelling against the Lord. They 
made their appeal to him: "The Lord God of gods, the Lord God 
of gods, he knoweth." This repetition gave great weight to their 
words. They meant to make a solemn protestation. Not in re- 
bellion, not in transgression, had they reared the altar. By the truth 
of their words, and the purity of their thoughts, they were willing to 
be judged. "Save us not this day" is equivalent to "So help me 
God," which closes the oath as administered in our courts. They 



52 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

called Hira to witness, who knew their hearts, and whose honor was 
in question. It is possible, that, in building the altar, they remem- 
bered the altar reared by Moses at Jehoyah-nissi (Exod. xvii. 15). 

" That we have built us an altar to turn from following the Lord, or if to 
offer thereon burnt offering or meat offering, or if to offer peace offerings thereon, 
let the Lord himself require it; 

" And if we have not rather done it for fear of this thing, saying, In time to 
come your children might speak unto our children, saying, What have ye to do 
with the Lord God of Israel? 

"For the Lord hath made Jordan a border between us and you, ye children 
of Reuben and children of Gad; ye have no part In the Lord: so shall your 
children make our children cease. from fearing the Lord. 

" Therefore we said, Let us now prepare to build us an altar, not for burnt 
offering, nor for sacrifice : 

•'But that it may be a witness between us, and you, and our generations 
after us, that we might do the service of the Lord before him with our burnt 
offerings, and with our sacrifices, and with our peace offerings ; that your children 
may not say to our children in time to come, Ye have no part in the Lord." — 
Josh. xii. 23-27. 

23. They had not made their altar because they would turn from 
the Lord, or offer their offerings upon it, and not at Shiloh, where 
were the tabernacle and the ark. If they had done this, let the Lord 
bring them to account for it. 

24. It was with the opposite feeling they had built the altar. They 
feared that they might become separated from the Lord, who was 
equally the God of all the tribes. They might come to be treated as 
strangers and aliens. The children of the western tribes, having the 
tabernacle with them, might say unto their eastern kinsmen, " What 
have ye to do with the Lord God of Israel? '' 

25. The descendants of Judah and Ephraim might tell the descend- 
ants of Reuben and Gad, " Ye have no part in the Lord." The river 
rolling between the tribes might be made a spiritual, as it was a 
physical barrier between them. Taunted with this, feeling them- 
selves cut off by the Jordan, dwelling in a place of their own, it 
might come to pass that the eastern tribes would lose their interest 
in the western, become jealous of them, cease to worship with them, 
and even disown their God. 

26. Therefore, to prevent this, they had built an altar, "JSot for 
burnt offering, nor for sacrifice." 

27. But for a witness between the present generations, and between 



JOSHUA. 53 

those who should succeed to their places (see Gen. xxxi. 48; chap. 
xxiv. 27). This altar would show that they were the Lord's people. 
If this was ever questioned, they would point to these witnessing 
stones. Thus keeping themselves faitliful to God, and securing the 
like fidelity on the part of their children, the eastern tribes would go 
at the stated times across the river, and with their kindred offer the 
established sacrifices in the common sanctuary of the one nation. It 
should be said by the children, " Behold the pattern of the altar of 
the Lord, which our fathers made, not for burnt offerings, nor for * 
sacrifices ; but it is a witness between us and you." 

This noble reply satisfied Phinehas the priest, and his associates ; 
and they said, " This day we perceive that the Lord is among us." 
When they returned to those who had sent them, " the thing pleased 
the children of Israel." And the altar stood as a witness that the 
Lord is God. 

The fact that the Lord is God, recognized and worshipped, was at 
the bottom of the difference between the Israelites and all surround- 
ing nations. It was the fundamental fact in their faith and practice, 

PEACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. It is well to be jealous for the honor of God. 

2. It is well to reason with one who has offended us, before we 
make war upon him. 

3. " A soft answer turneth away wrath." 

4. When we are convinced of our mistake, it is manly to acknowl- 
edge it. 



Lesson XII. — Joshua's Warning. — Chap, xxiii. 11-16. 

The last two chapters of this book are chiefly made up of the parting 
addresses of Joshua to his people. This close corresponds to that of 
the books of Moses. There are two addresses, given on different 
occasions. " In the former, Joshua briefly reminds the princes of ;he 
recent benefits of God towards them and their people, declares that 
God had fulfilled all his promises, and exhorts to faithfulness on their 
side to God, that so his mercies may not be withdrawn : in the latter, 
the orator takes a wider range, rehearses the gracious dealings of God 
with the nation from its very origin, and, upon these as his grounds, 



54 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

he claims for God tlieir sincere and entire service. But he grants 
them the option of withdrawing from the covenant, if they so choose ; 
and, when they elect still to abide by it, it is solemnly renewed by the 
free consent of the whole people." 

6 i Joshua waxed old, and stricken in age." He called to him the 
elders and heads and judges and officers of Israel. To them he 
spoke of what God had done, and exhorted them to be courageous in 
their obedience to the law of Moses, to keep themselves aloof from 
* the heathen nations around them, and to have nothing to do with their 
gods, but to cleave unto the Lord their God. Then would he make 
their way prosperous, and they should have great success. 

" Take good heed therefore unto yourselves, that ye love the 'Lord your God." 
— Josh, xxiii. 11. 

11. They would need to be watchful ; for from within and from 
without would come temptations to turn away from the Lord. Josh- 
ua well knew this from the past history of the people. Because 
every thing depended on their allegiance to God, they were to take 
good heed unto themselves, and keep their hearts with all diligence. 
It would seem, that, after all which God had done for them, they could 
never forsake him. But such has not been the fact. Men have 
shown themselves but too ready to forget the unseen God, and be gods 
to themselves, and to fall in with the spirit of a world which has 
rebelled against him. Such a course is perilous ; if persisted in, dis- 
astrous. " The Lord, whose name is jealous, is a jealous God." 

God would not be content with a formal service : he demands the 
heart. Spirit himself, he calls for spirit; and only in spirit and in 
truth can he be worshipped. The call for love is found thus early in 
the Old Testament. These ancient Scriptures are not severe, exacting, 
ceremonial. The two commandments into which Christ condensed 
the law are found in the law as given by Moses (see Dent. vi. 5, 
also x. 12, xi. 1, 13, 22, xix. 9, xxx. 6, and Lev. xix. 18, 34). If 
the children of Israel loved God sincerely, they would do his will. 
When thoughts of self-interest had failed, affection would keep them 
true to his commandments. In enjoining love for God, Joshua pro- 
vided for the worship and service which are required by him. If 
they loved God, they would not go after the gods of the nations : 
they would preserve the name of the Lord, and transmit it to the 
generations to come. 

" Else if ye do in any wise go back, and cleave unto the remnant of these 
nations, even these that remain among you, and shall make marriages with them, 
and go in unto them, and they to you : 



JOSHUA. 55 

"Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of 
these nations from before you ; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and 
scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good 
land which the Lord your God hath given you." — Josh, xxiii. 12, 13. 

12. In regard to marriages with the alien nations, see Exod. xxxiv. 
12-16, Deut. vii. 3-5. Such alliances would result in idolatry. The 
daughters of the heathen would draw the sons of Israel away from 
their integrity, if such connections were tolerated. If the home be- 
came unfaithful, the very source of the religious life of the people 
would be poisoned. The only safety for Israel was in breaking down 
the heathen altars, and keeping themselves a peculiar and separate 
people, holy unto the Lord. 

13. If they forsook the Lord, they would withdraw from his protec- 
tion. The rule afterwards pronounced declared a fundamental prin- 
ciple: " Them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me 
shall be lightly esteemed " (1 Sam. ii. 30). With this rule no one 
could find fault. If the people cared so little for God, that they would 
serve false divinities, preferring them to him, choosing their law 
above his, they could not wonder if he left them to reap according to 
their sowing. To be consistent, they could not complain of the with- 
drawal of favor by one for whose favor they had so small regard. 
There was no need of running after strange peoples and strange gods, 
and no excuse for it. 

If the children of Israel came under the influence of the nations, 
they would be exposed to temptations against which they would not 
stand. They would be snared and entrapped. Before they were 
aware of it, they would be led into sin (see Exod. xxiii. 33). They 
would be plagued" by them, and because of them. Sin would lead to 
trouble and disaster. The heathen would be as scourges and thorns 
(see Num. xxxiii. 55). The punishment prepared for the heathen 
would be visited upon apostate Israel (Kum. xxxiii. 56). 

"And, behold, this day I am going the way of all the earth; and ye know in all 
your hearts and in all your souls, that not one thing hath failed of all the good 
things which the Lord your God spake concerning you ; all are come to pass unto 
you, and not one thing hath failed thereof." —Josh, xxiii. 14. 

14. This warning was given by an old man, a pilgrim whose jour- 
ney was almost ended. He could have no selfish motive in seeking 
to keep the people true to his God and theirs. 

He was in a position where sincere words might be looked for. 
After a long life in God's service, trusting and proving his words, he 
was able to testify concerning them. 



56 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

But they also knew, for they were not strangers to the promises of 
God. "With perfect confidence he appealed to the people: " Ye know 
in all your hearts and in all your souls." Mark the solemn reiter- 
ation in his words. He was full of the thought and feeling he was 
trying to convey. There could be hut one answer to Joshua's appeal. 
The past, the present, witnessed for God. The very position of those 
whose fathers had so recently been brought from the house of bondage, 
and the steps by which they had come to the land long before given 
to Abraham and his seed, were a living testimony which should pre- 
vent the people from forgetting the Lord. The Canaanites were not 
utterly destroyed, for it was not the divine purpose that they should 
suddenly be annihilated ; but they were under" the hand of Israel, and 
were disheartened, reduced in strength, holding only certain isolated 
spots here and there, from which they could be driven at any time 
when the desire and daring of the people would employ the divine 
force which had thus far subdued their enemies. The land was se- 
curely in the possession of the Israelites, as they had been promised 
it should be (see chap. xxi. 43-45). 

" Therefore it shall come to pass, that as all good things are come upon you, 
which the Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you all evil 
things, until he hare destroyed you from off this good land which the Lord your 
God hath given you. 

" When ye have transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which he 
commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed yourselves to 
them, then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against you, and ye shall perish 
quickly from off the good land which he hath given unto you." — Josh, xxiii. 
15, 16. 

15. The past illumines the future. The purpose of God had been 
distinctly made known. As it had been, so it should be. The con- 
trast of blessings and curses had already been heard at Ebal and Geri- 
zim (see chap. viii. 34, 35; also Deut. xxviii.). They knew the end 
of the two ways before them. Thus far they had been blessed. The 
word of God on that side was proved true. So should the evil things 
come, if the people placed themselves where they could fall upon 
them. The end would be their destruction from the good land into 
which they had been brought. 

16. The promises of the Lord were in a covenant. They were not 
unconditional. He would bless, as he had created and preserved. 
But if the people forgot him, and went after other gods, and served 
them, the covenant would be annulled. This was fair. If they 
would not have God, why should God have them? If other gods 
were worth serving, let the other gods protect their worshippers. 



JOSHUA. 57 

Would the people go from the stronger to the weaker ? By leaving 
the Lord, they expressed their preference for other powers. Let them 
seek their blessings where they made their vows, where they bowed 
their heads. Moreover, this was necessary. The best gifts of God 
are spiritual. He gives them to the heart. If the heart is closed 
against him, if the freedom of manhood is used in shutting out the 
Creator, he is still kind and righteous when he withdraws his favor. 
God has self-respect. All gifts, but pre-eminently spiritual gifts, re- 
quire a recipient and a reception, as well as a giver. If man will not 
take, he does not have. 

But, besides all the rest, man ought to serve the Lord. It is not 
left to his choice. He cannot fail to serve God, and not be base and 
guilty and condemned. God is his Maker. He lives upon God's 
bounty: he ought to serve him, not because of reward for service, or 
punishment for neglect, but because nothing less, nothing else, is right. 
Men ought in all things to do God's will. If they will not do this, 
they may justly be punished. God will be good, and they will perish. 
Existence will be endless ; but it had been good for those who endure 
it, if they had never been born. 

For a special purpose, the Israelites had been brought into the land 
of Canaan. Their mission in the world is peculiar; and through 
them ail the world is blessed. With the New Testament in our hands 
we understand this. But the work of Israel was conditioned upon 
obedience to the Lord. By bringing them into the land, he had 
shown himself able to carry out his purposes through them : he had 
also shown that he had no need of them. He who could do *so much 
for them could do what he would without them. From the very stones 
beneath their feet he could raise up children unto Abraham, and by 
them he could reveal himself to the world as the Lord of hosts, the 
Father of men, and the Saviour of sinners. Let no man think himself 
indispensable to God ; let no nation. 

Note in how many ways the fearful results of going after other 
gods are set forth. The nations shall be snares and traps, scourges 
for the sides, thorns for the eyes. Blessings shall cease. Curses 
shall fall. The anger of the Lord shall be kindled ; and the rebellious 
people shall perish quickly, arO. be destroyed from off the good land. 
The loss of the land they haa gained through so much tribulation 
was the crowning feature of their punishment. Just as they were 
settling down in places they could call their own, there rose before 
them the prospect of losing all. Yet how easy to retaiu all ! Would 
they be true to the Lord their God ? 



58 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. We ought to give great care to our religious duties. 

2. We ought to love God. 

3. If we love God, his yoke will be easy, his burden light. 

4. If we do not live for God, we should not expect his blessing. 

5. If we do not love God, we are guilty, and shall be punished. 

6. The knowledge of God's goodness and truthfulness should 
make us trust him implicitly. 

7. We should never feel ourselves so sure of God's blessing that we 
neglect to be thankful and obedient. 



Lesson XIII. — God's Mercies to Israel (Kevtew). — Chap. 

xxiv. 1-13. 

After Joshua had instructed the leaders by themselves, he addressed 
the people. 

"And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Sheehem, and called for the 
elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers ; 
and they presented themselves before God. 

" And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your 
fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of 
Abraham, and the father of Nachor ; and they served other gods. 

"And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led 
him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him 
Isaac. 

"And I gave unto Isaac Jacob and Esau; and I gave unto Esau Mount Seir, 
to possess it; but Jacob and his children went down into Egypt." — Josh. xxiv. 

1. Sheehem was a fitting place for this gathering, being between 
Ebal and Gerizim, where the covenant, with its blessings and curses, 
had been rehearsed. The earlier history of Sheehem made it a place 
singularly appropriate for the transaction now to be described. The 
elders and hsads and judges and officers had been addressed before 
(chap, xxiii. 2). " Before God" is literally before Elohim. In his 
sight his mercies were to be solemnly set forth. 

2. Joshua spoke in the name of the Lord, in whose presence all 
were waiting. It is not likely that every person was present, but 
that there was a very large representation from each tribe. Joshua 



JOSHUA. 59 

went back to very early times. " The flood " was the River Euphrates. 
There lived Abram and his ancestors. Thence came Abram to be the 
father of a new people. His ancestors and companions worshipped 
strange gods. But Abram knew the Lord, and was obedient to his 
will. 

3. This verse brings us from the call of Abram to the birth of 
Isaac. Abram was found among idolaters, but was separated from 
them. "He went out, not knowing whither he went." The Lord's 
purpose would be disclosed by degrees. Meanwhile, Abram had 
faith in God, and won the name, "the friend of God." 

4. We are brought on to the descent into Egypt by Jacob and his 
children. Mount Seir was south-east from Canaan, — a mountain- 
ridge running on the east side of the Valley of Arabah, from the Dead 
Sea, nearly to the Gulf of Akabah. The family of Esau had their 
possessions there. But Jacob's family went to-Egypt; not to possess 
it, but to be possessed by it : not to the free life of Esau and his chil- 
dren, but to a long and hard bondage. 

" I sent Moses also, and Aaron, and I plagued Egypt, according to that which I 
did among them ; and afterward I brought you out. 

" And I brought your fathers out of Egypt ; and ye came unto the sea : and the 
Egyptians pursued after your fathers with chariots and horsemen into the Red 
Sea. 

" And, when they cried unto the Lord, he put darkness between you and the 
Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes 
have seen what I have done in Egypt : and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long sea- 
son. 

" And I brought you into the land of the Amorites, which dwelt on the other 
side Jordan ; and they fought with you : and I gave them into your hand, that ye 
might possess their land : and I destroyed them from before you. 

" Then Balak, the son of Zippor, king of Moab, arose and warred against Israel, 
and sent and called Balaam the son of Beor to curse you : 

" But I would not hearken unto Balaam; therefore he blessed you still: so I 
delivered you out of his hand. 

"And ye went over Jordan, and came unto Jericho; and the men of Jericho 
fought against you, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, and the 
Hittites, and the Girgashites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites; and I delivered 
them into your hand." — Josh. xxiv. 5-11. 

5. But they were not left in that strange land. God raised up Moses 
and Aaron ; and, at the cost of plagues and death to the Egyptians, 
he brought his own covenant people out. 

6. He brought them out, and showed his power, and his regard for 
them, by dividing the Red Sea, that they might pass through to the 
promised land. 



60 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

7. But the haughty, angry, idolatrous Egyptians pursued them, and 
would have retaken and oppressed them ; hut hy his might, when his 
people called upon him in their peril, he drowned their enemies in the 
sea, while their feet pressed the farther shore. It was a long time that 
they remained in the wilderness. Why it was so long, they were not 
told at this time. How delicately their sin and rebellion w T ere passed 
over in this narrative ! A sad story of shame and loss and death lies 
under the simple words, "Ye dwelt in the wilderness a long sea- 
son." 

8. The Amorites opposed their march to the land they sought. But 
the Amorites fell before them ; and they marched on to conquest. 

9. Balak warred against Israel, and called Balaam to curse Israel. 
But they could not prevail ; for the Lord was on the side of Israel. 

10. The curses of Balaam became blessings ; and Israel was deliv- 
ered out of the hand of the king of Moab. 

11. The hand of the Lord held back the waters of the Jordan, and 
Israel passed through. Jericho fell before them ; and the nations 
which dwelt in the land were not able to withstand them. These 
nations are mentioned in Deut. vii. 1, and in chap. iii. 10. They were 
"greater and mightier" than Israel; but Israel prevailed against 
them by the hand of the Lord: " I delivered them into your hand." 

The previous wonders wrought by the Lord for Israel terrified the 
kings of the land so that " their heart melted " (chap. v. 1). In their 
turn, they found the same frown directed against themselves. 

" And I sent the hornet before you, which drave them out from before you, 
even the two kings of the Amorites ; but not with thy sword, nor with thy bow. 

" And I have given you a land for which ye did not labor, and cities which ye 
built not, and ye dwell in them : of the vineyards and olive-yards which ye planted 
not, do ye eat.*' — Josh. xxiv. 12, 13. 

12. Of the hornet we read in Exod. xxiii. 28, Deut. vii. 20. 
Whether this is to be understood as meaning actual hornets is 
quite doubtful, though some hold that opinion. " Two instances 
occur in Eastern history, of an immense swarm of insects contrib- 
uting to the decision of a battle." But, in the direct narrative of 
the conquest of Canaan, we have no mention of hornets. It seems 
most likely that the word is used to denote the different instruments 
and visitations by which the Lord secured the defeat and destruction 
of the nations. The two kings of the Amorites are named in Deut. 



JOSHUA. 61 

xxxi. 4, as Sihon and Og. Not Israel's might, but the Lord's, over- 
came the kings. 

13. Eead Deut. vi. 10, 11. The heathen possessed the land, where 
they had built cities, and planted vineyards and olive-yards. The 
land, with these improvements, the Lord had given to his own peo- 
ple : " I have given you." 

Thus we have a long record of mercies from the call of Abram to 
the settling of his descendants in the land given to him for them. 
The very recital of the names of men and places is attesting to the 
might of the Lord God of Israel, and to his regard for his people, and 
to his fidelity to his promises. By these mercies Israel should learn 
to have a perfect reliance upon his word, and render an unvarying 
allegiance to his commandments. 

We who now have his promises, reaching into the future we are 
entering, should learn from the experience of the Israelites to have a 
large faith and a strong courage. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Exod. xx. 1-6. 

2. 2 Pet. iii. 9; John iii. 16. 

3. Kev. xxii. 14. 

4. Ps. cvii. 8. 



62 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

SECOND QUARTER OF 1875. 

Lesson I. — Israel's Promise. — Chap. xxiv. 14-18. 

When Joshua had rehearsed before the people the mercies of the 
Lord, and the signal favors he had given them, he sought by this 
recollection of God's goodness to lead them to make a new covenant 
with God. 

" Now, therefore, fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in truth ; and 
put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and 
in Egypt, and serve ye the Lord." — Josh. xxiv. 14. 

14. "Now, therefore." Because of what God has done, let him 
be treated with supreme honor and affection. Let him alone be 
served. Let other gods be put away. It appears that there were 
" strange gods " among them, the images of heathen divinities (ver. 23 ; 
Gen. xxxi. 80, 34, 35, xxxv. 2, 4). The people were thought to be in- 
clined towards the gods of their Chaldsean ancestors, or the divinities 
which some of their fathers had reverenced in Egypt ; for the idolatry 
which surrounded them in Egypt must have had some effect over 
those who were weakest in their allegiance to Jehovah. This regard 
for false gods was to be relinquished. They had been forbidden to 
make any likeness of God. What low images the people had were 
to be cast away. The Lord alone, the unseen God, was to be wor- 
shipped and served in sincerity and truth. The gods which Jacob 
received from his household (Gen. xxxv. 2, 4) he hid " under the oak 
which was by Shechem." Earlier than that, Abram had tarried at an 
oak by Shechem, and had built an altar there (Gen. xii. 6, 7). Per- 
haps the oak of Abram and Jacob was the same one which is men- 
tioned here in verse 26. There was certainly an appropriateness in 
renewing the covenant with God on this spot. 

" And. if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye 
will serve ; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other 
side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell : but, as for 
me and my house, we will serve the Lord. 

" And the people answered and said, God forbid that we should forsake the Lord 
to serve other gods ; 

" For the Lord our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the 
land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did those great signs in our 
sight, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the people 
through whom we passed. 



JOSHUA. 63 

" And the Lord drave out from before us all the people, even the Amorites 
which dwelt in the land: therefore will we also serve the Lord; for he is our 
God." — Josh. xxiv. 15-18. 

15. The people were called upon to make a choice. If it seemed 
inexpedient and wrong to serve the Lord, let them leave him, and 
devote themselves to the Chaldaean divinities, or those of the Amorites 
who were near at hand. Let them make an intelligent choice, and 
then abide by it (see Deut. xxx. 15-20). Not that it would be right 
or wise to prefer another before the Lord ; but it would be as well 
to do so in form as in spirit. Let them bring their profession and 
practice into harmony. " But, as for me and my house, we will serve 
the Lord." 

16. The people were prompt in adopting the resolution which Joshua 
had declared. In a solemn form they announced their purpose to 
have nothing to do with the gods of the nations around them, but to 
serve the Lord alone. They could come to no decision but this. If 
they remembered the mercy or the might of God, still more, when 
they remembered both, they could not hesitate to declare their alle- 
giance to him, and their dependence upon him. 

17. "For." What God had done for their fathers and for them in 
all the way from Egypt to Canaan gave him a claim they could not 
and would not disown. To trust other gods was to leave the stronger 
for the weaker, to desert the friend for the enemy, to imperil all they 
had gained by forgetting him who had given it. 

18. They were in the land where their enemies had lived, in their 
cities and olive-yards, because God had blessed them. Well might 
they say, " We will serve the Lord; for he is our God." 

Joshua warned the people of their danger, if they forgot these vows, 
and that the Lord whom they chose to serve would require a faithful 
service. But they were firm in the choice. He made them witnesses 
to their covenant, and they said, " We are witnesses." They were de- 
cided : they were honest. 

The covenant was made, and a statute and ordinance set for the 
people in Shechem. The transaction was recorded by Joshua " in the 
book of the law of God " (see Deut. xxxi. 24-26). And Joshua set up 
a great stone under an oak by the sanctuary, in memory of the choice 
and vow and covenant which were made (see Gen. xxviii. 18) : so 
the stone was a witness unto them all. Then every man departed 
unto his inheritance. 



64 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

The work of Joshua was done. He was a hundred and ten years 
old. He died. " They buried him in the border of his inheritance, 
in Timnath-serah " (chap. xix. 50; Judg. ii. 9). For a long time 
the influence of this great good man remained ; and the people con- 
tinued to serve the Lord, remembering his works " that he had done 
for Israel." 

The series of lessons in the first quarter is a fitting introduction to 
the confession of Joshua and the choice and covenant of the people 
at Shechem. 

As we now pass from this book, let us note some of the leading 
events we have studied. 

Joshua took up his work at the call of the Lord, who encouraged 
him with large promises, and enjoined the keeping of the law. Start- 
ing in this way, after the life in the wilderness, under a new leader, 
the host crossed the Jordan on dry land, and reared stones in 
memory of the miracle. They made ready for the conquest of 
the land; and Jericho fell into their hands by the power of the 
Lord. Achan's sin caused their defeat at Ai; but, when the sin 
had been punished, success returned. Once fairly in the land, the 
blessings and curses were renewed at Ebal and Gerizim. Then the 
land was divided. Caleb had the portion which he chose. The 
tribes received their portion. Joshua had his part. The priests were 
cared for. Cities of refuge were appointed. The tribes on the two 
sides of the Jordan declared their common devotion to the one true 
God. The people were warned against turning from him who had so 
signally blessed them, and whose just anger would be their destruc- 
tion. The people, with their illustrious leader, announced their 
allegiance to the Lord God of Israel. Then Joshua rested from his 
labors. This was, according to the usual reckoning, B.C. 1427. Read 
Ps. xxxvii. 37. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

l."We ought to have one Lord. 

2. The God who made us, in whose hands our life is, and our 
breath, should be served by us. ^ We should refuse to accept his gifts, 
or constantly thank him while we take them. 

3. The Lord requires a sincere and constant service. 

4. We can serve God faithfully in our will and purpose, at least ; 
and for our sins we can seek forgiveness. 



JUDGES. 65 

5. Our vows are all recorded: "Ye are witnesses against y our- 
selves/ ' 

JUDGES. 

Lesson II. — The Promise broken. — Chap. ii. 11-16. 

" We are now arrived at the last stage of the first period of the his- 
tory of the chosen people. . . . The conquest was over ; but the up- 
heavings of the conquered population still continued. . . . Nearly the 
whole of the seacoast, all the strongholds in the rich plain of Esdrae- 
lon and in the heart of the country, the invincible fortress of Jebus, 
were still in the hands of the unbelievers. . . . Slowly, gradually, the 
dominion of the chosen people was left to work its way. . . . ' There 
was no king in Israel,' no fixed capital, no fixed sanctuary, no fixed 
government. . . . The office, which gives its name to the period, well 
describes it. It was occasional, irregular, uncertain, yet gradually 
tending to fixedness and perpetuity. Its title itself is expressive. 
The ruler was not regal ; but he was more than the head of a tribe, or 
the mere judge of special cases." — Stanley's Jewish Church. 

" The period of the judges is the heroic age of Hebrew history. It 
abounds in wild adventure and desperate feats of individual valor. 
. . . The office of the Hebrew judge was rather that of the mili- 
tary dictator, raised on an emergency to the command of the national 
forces. . . . The judges were of different tribes, and seem to have 
arisen, and to have been summoned to power and authority, according 
to the exigencies of the time." — Milmaris History of the Jews. 

The Book of Judges is in three parts. First is the preface ; next 
the principal narrative of the judges and their deeds; and at the 
close is an appendix containing an account of the worship of Micah's 
graven image, and also of the civil war with Benjamin. The period 
covered by the book is usually reckoned at about three hundred years. 
The author is not known. Jewish tradition ascribes the book to 
Samuel. 

" In this book we are authoritatively taught what the moral causes 
were, in the instances recorded in it, which led to the fall and rising 
again of Israel. The book is a record of the righteousness, the 
faithfulness, and the mercy of God. ... It holds out to us in figures 
the mighty victory of Christ over all his foes, and so stimulates our 
own hope of sharing his victory, and being partakers of his kingdom, 
where all enemies are put under his feet." 

In this chapter, at the eighth verse, we have the death of Joshua, 
which was recorded at the close of the book bearing his name. Th(i 
6* 



66 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

date, as before given, is B.C. 1427. The title " servant of the Lord ' 
is especially given to Moses. In the Book of Chronicles and later 
writings, we find the name, " servant of God." Joshna is called the 
"servant of the Lord" only here and in the corresponding passage 
(Josh. xxiv. 29). 

Again we have the account of his burial, of which we have read in 
the Book of Joshua. The place of burial was of great moment in the 
eyes of the Eastern peoples. Among the wandering tribes, often 
the only places which they could appoint for a meeting were the 
graves of their chieftains. At a later time, and among Christians, 
the place where a holy man was interred has been held sacred. Men 
have accounted it a special privilege to be buried near one who had 
been a man of G-od, cherishing the idea of companionship at the 
resurrection. The grave of Joshua was a memorial of his life, and 
of that which God had wrought by his hand. It was fitting that it 
should be well known, and marked for coming generations. The 
place of Joshua's grave cannot now be identified. Two names are 
given to the place, — here, " Timnath-heres : " in Josh. xix. 50 and 
xxiv. 30, it is "Tinmath-serah." It is possible that "heres" may 
be a corrupt form of " serah," made by a transposition of letters. 
The Jewish writers prefer the form "Timnath-heres." 

But it was not the leader alone who died. 

The greater part of those who were adults at the entrance into 
Canaan passed away, as had those who were before them. They were 
"pilgrims and strangers," even though they dwelt in their own 
land. How beautiful and suggestive the phrase "were gathered 
unto their fathers"! We have also the expressions, "Thou shalt 
sleep with thy fathers" (Deut. xxxi. 16); "Thou shalt go to thy 
fathers " (Gen. xv. 15) ; "David . . . fell on sleep, and was laid unto 
his fathers " (Acts xiii. 36) ; " Abraham . . . was gathered to his 
people" (Gen. xxv. 8): so were Isaac and Jacob. To have a genera- 
tion pass away would have been of less account, if their successors 
had inherited their religion, and kept their covenant. But those who 
came upon the stage knew not the Lord ; knew him not as the one 
God who was to be served ; knew him not in their hearts, with obe- 
dience and love. They heard the tale of deliverance which made 
them a nation ; but they did not confess the goodness of God, and 
make the due return in thankfulness and obedience. God and his 
works were as though they knew them not. The warning which 
Joshua had given was forgotten. The vows of the people were 
renounced. When their leader was withdrawn, their fidelity disap- 
peared. They needed to be led and held up, like children. They 
could not go alone. 



JUDGES. 67 

Let us see here the dependence of a people upon their religious 
teachers and institutions. We think ourselves well established in 
Christianity ; yet take away the church and its ministers, give up the 
Bible, the sabbath, and the sabbath school, and there is much reason 
to fear that before long we should become a godless nation. Infideli- 
ty would take the place of religion. This would not prove that 
Christianity is not divine, but that we are weak, and need the helps 
which God in his wisdom has ordained for our use. 



The promise given in Josh. xxiv. 16-18 was soon forgotten. 

" And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served 
Baalim : 

"And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of 
the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were 
round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to 
anger." — Judg. ii. 11, 12. 

11. "Did evil in the sight of the Lord." This means they were 
guilty of idolatry. It is a common expression for this infidelity 
(see chap. iii. 7, 12, iv. 1, vi. 1, x. 6; 1 Kings xiv. 22, 23; 2 Chron. 
xii. 14). This "was the greatest of evils; for their supreme duty was 
to God, and this they disowned. In the train of this leading dis- 
obedience would easily come a host of evils. 

Baalim is the plural form of Baal. This form is found in other 
places (see chap. x. 10; 1 Kings xviii. 18; Jer. ix. 14). 

12. They could not get away from the Lord. They were fed by his 
hand. His mercy kept them in life. There is not an atheist in the 
world, not an irreligious person, who is not sustained by the mercy 
of the very One whom he denies. But they put God out of their 
thoughts, and ceased to obey him and worship him. 

The gods they followed had done nothing for them ; but they chose 
those gods, though they had clone nothing even to protect those who 
trusted in them. The God of Israel had again and again put to flight 
the Canaanites and their divinities. The worthlessness of these false 
gods was proved. Yet, in the face of all this, the Israelites forgot all 
that God had done, all that Baal had not done; forgot their duty; 
forgot their dependence, and bowed themselves before the gods of the 
people that were round about them. How could they do this ? It 
was because their hearts were not right towards God. The lesson of 
history is, that men do not like to serve God. They want to have 
their own way, or to fall in with the course of this world. They 



68 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

know this is wrong ; they confess its folly ; but they bow themselves 
before themselves and the gods of this world. It is the sad fact, 
which the Bible asserts, and which is fearfully proved. Men do not 
like God. Eead such passages as the following: Gen. vi. 5, 12; 
Josh. xxiv. 19; Ps. xiv. 1, 3, li. 5; Jer. vi. 10, xiii. 23, xvii. 9; 
John iii. 3, 5, xvii. 16; Kom.' viii. 7; 1 John iii. 1. Against duty, 
against history, against good sense, against self-interest, against con- 
science, men will leave God, and serve strange gods, variously named, 
"the world," " self," " reason," and the like; and the cause of this is 
to be found in the heart of man, which is estranged from God. 
Imagine the feeling of an Israelite who had a memory or a heart, as 
he prostrated himself before the gods of the conquered Canaanites. 

"And they forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth." — Judg. ii. 13. 

13. Baal was the supreme male divinity of the Canaanitish and 
Phoenician nations. Ashtaroth, or Ashtoreth, was their supreme 
female divinity. The worship of these divinities is of very early 
date. We find Baal worshipped by the Moabites in the days of 
Moses (Num. xxii. 41). We find Israel worshipping Baal through 
the seduction of the Moabites (Num. xxv. 3). That idolatry was 
punished; but here we find it renewed by the next generation. 
Indeed, this form of idolatry seems to have prevailed among the 
Israelites till the time of Samuel (1 Sam. vii. 4). "The worship of 
Baal amongst the Jews appears to have been appointed with much 
pomp and ceremonial. Temples were erected to him. His images 
were set up. His altars were very numerous, and were erected par- 
ticularly on lofty eminences, and on the roofs of houses. There were 
priests in great numbers and of various classes. The worshippers 
appear to have been arrayed in appropriate robes ; the worship was 
performed by burning incense, and offering burnt sacrifices, which 
occasionally consisted of human victims. The officiating priests 
danced with frantic shouts around the altar, and cut themselves with 
knives to excite the attention and compassion of the god." The 
name Baal is compounded with others, giving names of a special 
significance. Thus we have Baal-Berith, or Covenant Baal (Judg. 
viii. 33) ; Baal-Zebub, Baal, or Lord of the fly (2 Kings i. 2). 

The children of Israel were led into these idolatries by the people 
around them, who found a place in their hearts where they could be 
reached, and taken captive. "The imperfect conquest had left for- 
midable enemies, not only on the frontier, but in the heart of the land. 
The necessity of taking up those arms which they had so rashly laid 
down speedily became urgent. It was no longer, however, a national 



JUDGES. 69 

war, but a war of the separate tribes against their immediate ene- 
mies.'' There were some successes; but, in many cases, the " tribes 
seem to have adopted the dangerous measure of entering into terms 
with their enemies, and permitting them to reside in the land on the 
payment of tribute. Intermarriages soon followed, and led to commu- 
nity of religious worship. The Israelites strayed, without scruple, into 
the shady grore, where the voluptuous rites of the Canaanites were 
held, or attended at their gay and splendid festivals. By degrees they 
began to incorporate the two religions. . . . The Israelites in general 
yielded themselves up to the idolatries before they were subjugated 
by the arms of the surrounding nations. . . . The want of union 
among the tribes arose naturally out of their disobedience to the com- 
mands of their lawgiver, and brought with it the punishment of 
that disobedience, not merely in the abandonment of protecting 
Providence, but in the ordinary course of events. The neighborhood 
of the idolatrous tribes led to apostasy; apostasy, to weakness and 
servitude." 

"And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into 
the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their 
enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their 
enemies. 

" Whithersoever they went out, the hand of the Lord was aganist them for 
evil, as the Lord had said, and as the Lord had sworn unto them ; and they were 
greatly distressed. 

" Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges, which delivered them out of the 
hand of those that spoiled them." — Judg. ii. 14-16. 

14. It is not strange that "the anger of the Lord was hot against 
Israel" (see Ps. cvi. 40-42). The very nations with which they had 
formed alliances, and before whose gods they bowed themselves, 
turned upon them to spoil them (see 2 Kings xvii. 20). They were 
delivered into the hands of their enemies, who had not been able to 
stand before them: they were given to them as if they had been 
sold (see chap. hi. 8, iv. 2, x. 7; Ps. xliv. 12; Isa. 1. 1). Notice the 
threatening in Lev. xxvi. 17. Here is its fulfilment. The blessings 
promised in Lev. xxvi. 7, 8, had been forfeited. 

15. Head Josh, xxiii. 8-13. They were abundantly warned. They 
thought they should take heed. In the beginning of prosperity, their 
faith failed ; they forgot him who had given them success ; they ran 
into the peril from which obedience would have kept them. The 
hand of the Lord had worked for Israel ; now it was against Israel 
in punishment. "As the Lord had said" (see Deut. xxviii. 15, 25). 

16. Though Israel thus sinned and suffered, the Lord would not 



70 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

give his people up to utter destruction. He heard their groanings, and 
saw their calamity. He had made them know their sin and its con- 
sequences. " Nevertheless the Lord raised up judges which delivered 
them." This is the first mention of this name, " judge." These new 
leaders were inferior to Moses and Joshua; but they were the Lord's 
ministers, and by them he did many wonderful works, as this book 
relates. 

But even new deliverances did not avail to turn the Israelites from 
idols and idolaters: " They ceased not from their own doings, nor 
from their stubborn way." Then the Lord in judgment refused to 
drive out "the nations which Joshua left when he died." The pres- 
ence of these nations would test the Israelites, and put their piety to 
the proof. The Canaanites would still trouble Israel, and be a scourge 
upon those who would not drive them out, nor keep aloof from them. 
Thus were disobedience and idolatry punished. 

The next chapter gives an account of the nations which were left to 
trouble Israel. This narrative should be read, before passing on to 
the next lesson. 

PBACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Useful men die, even while useless men live. 

2. Mark the tendency of the human heart away from God. 

3. Use the means God has ordained for training the minds of men, 
and keeping them true to him. 

4. If we forsake God, we should not think it strange that he leaves 
us to our own devices. 

5. But there is compassion with God, and in this world is space 
for repentance. 



Deboeah and Babak. — Chap. iv. 1-9. 
[This passage was included in the original plan for these lessons.] 

" And the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord, when Ehud 
was dead. 

" And the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigaed 
in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the 
Gentiles." — Judg. iv. 1, 2. 



JUDGES. 71 

1. The first judge was Othniel (chap. iii. 9) : " The Spirit of the 
Lord came upon him ; and he judged Israel, and went out to war." 

The second judge was Ehud, "a Benjamite, a man left-handed. " 
The children of Israel were in bondage to Eglon, the King of Moab, 
for eighteen years. "When the children of Israel cried unto the 
Lord, the Lord raised them up a deliverer. " Ehud killed Eglon, and 
at a signal the Israelites fell upon the Moabites, and " so Moab was 
subdued that day under the hand of Israel." The next judge men- 
tioned is Shamgar, who delivered Israel from the Philistines. 

After the deliverance from the Moabites, the land had rest fourscore 
years. When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel resumed the idola- 
try from which they had been kept while this judge was living. The 
work of a judge included both the political protection of the people, 
and their preservation from idolatry. " Did evil" is the common 
expression to denote the practice of idolatry. 

2. The expression, "sold them," is found in chap. ii. 14, and other 
places. The first use of it is in Deut. xxxii. 30. The people came 
into the power of the conquerors, became, as it were, their property. 

We have in Josh. xi. 1, " Jabin, King of Hazor." He was one of the 
kings who came out to oppose the march of Joshua, by whom he was 
defeated with great slaughter. " They left some of them remaining." 
" Joshua at that time turned back, and took Hazor, and smote the 
king thereof with the sword. . . . And they smote all the souls that 
were therein . . . utterly destroying them : there was not any left to 
breathe. And he burnt Hazor with fire." The common chronology 
gives about a hundred and fifty years between these events and those 
described in this chapter. The interval may have been less. It 
is possible that Hazor was rebuilt after being destroyed by Joshua, 
and that Jabin was the hereditary name of its kings : unless this were 
so, the two narratives would seem to refer to the same event, in which 
Joshua and Barak would both have a part. The former explanation, 
is the more probable. We read of Hazor again in 1 Kings ix. 15, 
where it appears as one of the fortified towns of Solomon. Hazor 
was a city in the portion of Naphtali (Josh. xix. 36). It was near the 
" waters of Merom," in the far north. Harosheth is supposed to have 
stood on the west coast of the Lake of Merom. "It has been con- 
jectured that this being a great timber district, rich in cedars and fir- 
trees, and near Great Zidon, Jabin kept a great number of oppressed 
Israelites at work in hewing wood, and preparing it at Harosheth for 
transport to Zidon, and that these wood-cutters, armed with axes and 
hatchets, formed the soldiers of Barak's army." We read of Sisera 
in Ez. ii. 53, Neh. vii. 55. "It is remarkable that from this enemy 



72 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS, 

of the Jews should have sprung one of their most eminent charac- 
ters." That is, " the great Kabbi Akiba," who took a prominent part 
in the Jewish war of independence. 

" And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord : for he had nine hundred char- 
iots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel." 
— Judg. iv. 3. 

3. The children of Israel, by forsaking God, fell into the power of 
the enemies they should long before have subdued, but whom they 
had suffered to remain near them. Now those who should have been 
masters came under the tyranny of the Canaanitish king. All was 
in keeping with the repeated warning, that, if they forsook God, he 
would forsake them. Finding that his favor had departed, in their 
distress they " cried unto the Lord." For twenty years the heathen 
king " mightily oppressed the children of Israel." It took time to 
show them their sin ; and the Lord made them to suffer for their im- 
piety. Their sin was the greatest and most perilous. It ought not to 
go without severe rebuke. The word " oppressed" is used to de- 
scribe the condition of the Israelites in Egypt (see Exod. iii. 9). 

Jabin the king, and Sisera the captain of his host, had nine hun- 
dred chariots of iron. These chariots were probably of wood, heavily 
strengthened and defended with iron (see Josh. xi. 6, 9, xvii. 16). It 
is possible that the "chariots of iron" were chariots armed with 
scythes. 

" And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that 
time. 

"And she dwelt under the palm-tree of Deborah, between Raman and Beth-el 
in Mount Ephraim ; and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment." — 
Judg. iv. 4, 5 

4. The fourth judgeship was that of Deborah and Barak. Deborah, 
besides being a judge, or that she might be a judge, was " a prophet- 
ess." By the same name Miriam is called (Exod. xv. 20), and Hul- 
dah (2 Kings xxii. 14), and other women. She was a woman of great 
piety and wisdom, to whom was communicated, in an extraordinary 
measure, the illumination of the Divine Spirit ; so that she could inter- 
pret the divine will, and utter God's counsel in lofty strains, and per- 
form heroic deeds. She was moved upon by a divine influence. We 
have examples of her works in vers. 6-9, 14, and in chap. v. Of 
Lapidoth we have but this mention. 

5. When Deborah judged the people, and received the children of 
Israel as they came to her with their questions and suits, she sat 



JUDGES. 73 

under a palm-tree which came to bear her name. It was usual for 
the judges to sit in the gate, where they could be easily found (see 
Euth iv. 1, 2; Prov. xxii. 22). "It suited her character, and the wild, 
unsafe times, better for her to sit under a palm-tree. ,, In regard to 
the union of the two names of "judge " and " prophetess," it has been 
remarked, "A female ruler was so extraordinary a thing in Israel 
(not a single instance occurs, except that of the foreign usurper, Atha- 
liah), that the reason of it is invariably subjoined to her name." 
Deborah, a prophetess, judged Israel. Her whole conduct and bear- 
ing were in keeping with her person and her sacred office. Deborah 
probably belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, whose portion was near 
the middle of the land. Bethel and Ramah were in the portion of 
Benjamin, which lay next to Ephraim, on the south. 

" And she sent and called Barak, the son of Abinoam, out of Kedesh-naphtali, 
and said unto him. Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded, saying, Go, and 
draw toward Mount Tat or, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children 
of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun ? " — Judg. iv. 6. 

6. Barak signifies lightning, "an appropriate name for a warrior 
whose sword flashed as quickly and irresistibly as lightning." Abino- 
am we know only through his son. Happy the father who gives an 
honorable name to his child ! happy the child who brings his father 
into honorable notice! Kedesh-naphtali is Kedesh in Naphtali, 
north- west of the waters of Merom. By the addition of the name of 
the tribe, the place is distinguished from Kedesh in the south, below 
Judah. It was one of the cities of the Levites, and a city of refuge 
(Josh. xxi. 32). Barak knew the sad condition of his people, and very 
likely had a desire to deliver them ; but he lacked the boldness which 
would have led him to take up arms, and he had not the direct com- 
mission which he needed. Deborah's words seem to imply that she 
knew he had a feeling that he should do something for his nation. 
But she gave to him the command of the Lord. She spoke to him in 
the name of the Lord. In James v. 10, we read of "the prophets, 
who have spoken in the name of the Lord." She spoke for the " Lord 
God of Israel." Still the God of Israel, though disowned and for- 
saken, he it was who had made Israel a people. His were the cove- 
nants and deliverances and triumphs. He alone could deliver Israel 
from the oppression of the heathen. His word was to be trusted and 
obeyed. The name was full of hope and encouragement. 

Mount Tabor is " one of the most interesting and remarkable of the 

single mountains of Palestine." " Two mountains, the glory of the tribe 

of Issachar, stand out among the bare and rugged hills of Palestine, 

and even among those of their own immediate neighborhood, remark- 

7 



74 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

able for the verdure which climbs — a rare sight in Eastern scenery — 
to their very summits. One of these is Tabor," the other is "Car- 
mel, with its long projecting ridge by the sea." Tabor is in the north- 
eastern part of the plain of Esdraelon, and is some six or eight miles 
east of Nazareth. Its height is about two thousand feet above the 
level of the sea. Its top is "an irregular platform," which would 
make a good gathering-place for the forces of Israel, and a good place 
from which to descend upon the enemy in the plain below. Tabor is 
prominent in Old Testament history, but is not found in the New 
Testament. This mountain figures, also, in the later history of the 
land. The plan of Deborah was for Barak to unite the northern 
tribes with some of those upon the south, on this middle ground. 
Barak was to draw his men from his own tribe, and the adjoining 
tribe of Zebulun. 

"And I will draw unto thee, to the River Kishon, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's 
army, with his chariots and his multitude ; and I will deliver him into thine hand." 
— Judg. iv. 7. 

7. The Kiver Kishon, " that ancient river," has one of its sources 
in Mount Tabor, " and flows nearly due west through the plain under 
Mount Carmel, and into the Bay of Acre. In the early or eastern part of 
its course, before it is recruited by the springs of Carmel, it is nothing 
but a torrent, often dry, but liable to swell very suddenly and danger- 
ously, and to overflow its banks in early spring, after rain or the 
melting of snow. This actually occurred at the battle of Mount Ta- 
bor, in April, 1799, when many of the Turkish army were in conse- 
quence drowned. The ground on the banks of the Kishon, near 
Megiddo, becomes an impassable morass under the same circumstan- 
ces, and would be particularly dangerous to a large number of char- 
iots." The great plain of Esdraelon, or Jezreel, the valley of Megiddo, 
stretches across Central Palestine, from the Jordan to the Mediter- 
ranean. It was a place well suited to a battle with chariots and 
horses, and such a field as Sisera would seek. "The whole borders 
of the plain of Esdraelon are dotted with places of high historic and 
sacred interest." Thither Deborah said that Sisera should be drawn 
to the encounter with Barak. In this she was speaking for the Lord, 
telling what he had said. The God of Israel had power over the heart 
of Jabin and his general. He could bring these idolaters, the oppress- 
ors of his people, where his hand would be outstretched for the 
deliverance of his erring but now praying people, and for the destruc- 
tion of their enemies. He could make the forces he had set in nature 
work for his people. The stars in their courses should fight against 
Sisera, and the River Kishon sweep him away (chap. v. 20, 21). 



JUDGES. 75 

There is no concealment of the power of the Canaanites: Sisera 
would come with his iron chariots and his large army. ^But what 
were they against the God of Israel? " I will deliver him into their 
hand." In the strength of this command and promise, Barak was to 
make ready for the battle. 

" And Barak said unto her, If thou wilt go with me, then I will go ; but, if thou 
wilt not go with me, then I will not go." — Judg. iv. 8. 

8. Yet Barak was faint-hearted. So have others been who after- 
wards have done great works. Read Exod. iv. 10 ; chap. vi. 15, 36-40. 
Barak would go, if Deborah would go with him. The word of the 
unseen God, as she had uttered it, was not enough. He wanted to 
see his minister, to have the prophetess with him, to give him direc- 
tion, to confirm his courage, to be the assurance of the divine presence, 
and make the army confident of the divine help. Without this, he 
would not go. He could not endure "sis seeing him who is invisi- 
ble" (Heb. xi. 27). 

" And she said, I will surely go with thee ; notwithstanding the journey that 
thou takest shall not be for thine honor ; for the Lord shall sell Sisera into the 
hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh." — Judg. 
iv. 9. 

9. Deborah was sure of the result. She had no misgiving. "I will 
surely go with thee." But if she went as the real leader of the army, 
to whom even Barak looked up, the glory 6f the success would be 
hers, and not his. In addition to this, Sisera himself should not be 
slain on the field of Barak, by some warrior from Naphtali, but should 
be sold into the hand of a woman. This woman was Jael. Read 
vers. 17-24. Her hammer and nail would kill the captain of the 
Canaanites as he slept in her tent. "For a similar use of a weak 
instrument, that the excellency of the power might be of God, com- 
pare the history of Gideon and his three hundred, David and his sling, 
Shamgar and his ox-goat, Samson and the jaw-bone of an ass," <fec. 

When Deborah spoke of " a woman," Barak probably thought that 
she meant herself. Her real meaning came out only in the sequel. 
Then Deborah arose, and went with Barak to his own city of Kedesh. 
As we read of southern tribes engaged in this conflict, it is probable 
that Deborah " commissioned some chief to raise the tribes of Eph- 
raim, Benjamin, and Manasseh" (chap. v. 14). Barak was to gather 
the men from the north tribes at Kedesh. 



This encls the passage selected for the lesson. But the rest of this 
chapter should be read, — how Barak*gatherecl his ten thousand men, 
and went to Mount Tabor; how Sisera, hearing of this revolt, 



76 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 






brought out his nine hundred chariots of iron, and his host of war- 
riors, and went into the plain below Tabor; how Barak, at Deborah's 
signal and encouragement, rushed down from the mountain wi' h his 
army, and discomfited Sisera and all his chariots, and his host, so 
that Sisera fled for his life, and all the host fell upon the edge of 
Israel's sword; how Sisera took refuge in Jael's tent, where he was 
put to death by the woman's hand. " So God subdued, on that day, 
Jabin, the King of Canaan, before the children of Israel. And the 
hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin, 
the King of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin, King of Canaan," 
In all this narrative, Barak has his place, and Deborah has hers. 
Neither aspires to the other's office and work. 

Chap. v. is the song of Deborah and Barak in celebration of the 
victory. " This noble ode, which, for poetic spirit and lyric fire, is 
not surpassed by any of the sacred songs in the Bible," seems to have 
been composed and sung by Deborah. Barak assisted in its recital, 
perhaps with cymbals and timbrels. He may have sung with the 
chorus of men the second verse as an answer to the exultant strains 
of Deborah (see Exod. xv. 1, 20, 21). The faith of Barak is com- 
mended in Heb. xi. 32. 

PE ACTIO AL THOUGHTS. 

1. If we forget God, we must look for chastisement. 

2. It is better to be chastised for our faults than to be left to our 
own ways. 

3. In our distresses we are to cry unto the Lord. Though we have 
done wickedly, he will hear our penitent cry. 

4. He is able to advance his purpose's by humble instrumentalities. 
Read 1 Cor. i. 26-31. 

Lesson III. — The Cai/l of Gideon. — Chap. vi. 11-18. 

" In the defeat of Sisera the last attempt of the old inhabitants to 
recover their sway was put down. The next event is wholly different : 
it is the invasion of the tribes of the adjoining desert." After the 
destruction of Jabin, "the land had rest forty years." The children 
of Israel again went into idolatry: "And the Lord delivered them 
into the hand of Midian seven years." The Midianites greatly op- 
pressed them, so that "Israel^was greatly impoverished." Again 
Israel cried unto the Lord, the great, strong, kind, patient, forgiv- 



JUDGES. 7) 

ing God. The Lord sent to Israel a prophet, whose name is not told, 
who briefly rehearsed the story of the deliverance from Egypt, and 
the command with which the people were brought into their land. 
They were not to pay reverence and worship to the gods of the heathen 
who dwelt around them. "I am the Lord your God." "But ye 
have not obeyed my voice." Once more was divine succor needed 
and sought ; and once more would it be given. 

" And there came an angel of the Lord, and sat under an oak which was in 
Ophrah, that pertained unto Joash the Abi-ezrite ; and his son Gideon threshed 
wheat by the winepress, to hide it from the Midianites." — Judg. vi. 11. 

11. We have frequent mention of "the angel of the Lord." It 
means more than "an angel." It is "used nearly sixty times to 
designate the angel of God's presence" (see chap. ii. 1; Gen. xvi. 
7, 13, xxii. 11, 15, 16). " In all cases where ' the angel of the Lord ' 
delivers a message, he does it, as here, as if God himself were speak- 
ing, without the intervening words, ' Thus saith the Lord,' which 
are used in case of prophets." In this passage we have the -angel 
of the Lord (ver. 11) called "the Lord " (vers. 14, 16, 23). The Lord 
here is " Jehovah." We have before expressed the opinion that the 
angel of the Lord was the Lord, Jehovah, revealed, manifested in 
form; that he was the "Son of God," with whose later appearance 
we are familiar. 

Ophrah was in Manasseh, and not far from Shechem. Joash was 
the head of the village. Abiezer was the eldest son of Gilead, and 
was descended from Machir and Manasseh. The family was at first 
on the east of the Jordan, but is now found at Ophrah. Joash ap- 
pears to have been the head of the family at this time. 

The oak mentioned was a well-known tree at the time when this 
history was written. The altar built by Gideon under the tree (ver. 
24) is spoken of as yet in Ophrah. 

Gideon was the son of Joash. "There were vineyards round his 
native Ophrah (chap. viii. 2) ; and by the winepress, in which the 
grapes would be trodden out in the coming autumn, he now, in the 
summer months, doubtless, with his father's bullocks, was threshing 
out the newly-gathered wheat. Close by the smooth level was a cave, 
into which the juice of the grapes ran off through a channel cut in 
the rocky reservoir, and which Gideon now used to hide the corn 
from the rapacious invaders. Above this cave, as it would seem, 
stood a rock in the midst of a grove of trees, amongst which the 
most conspicuous was' a well-known terebinth, spreading its wide 
branches alike over the rock and the winepress. The grove was dedi- 
cated (so deeply had the Canaanitish worship spread even into the 



78 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

purest families) to Astarte. The rock, with an altar on its summit, 
was consecrated to Baal, and was venerated as a stronghold, or 
asylum, by the neighborhood " (see vers. 25-32). 

" And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him, and said unto him, The Lord 
is with thee, thou mighty man of valor." — Judg. vi. 12. 

12. %i The angel of the Lord appeared " unto Gideon, and addressed 
him in words of encouragement, which would at once attract his 
notice, and arouse his heart. " The Lord is with thee " was a 
common mode of greeting (Ruth ii. 4). Often the expression might 
be a mere formality : at other times, it might convey a personal and 
impressive truth. On this occasion it gave to Gideon the assurance 
of something important to be told him, something eventful to be 
done by him. 

" Thou mighty man of valor." Whether Gideon had already done 
any thing to deserve this praise, we are not told. It may have been in 
anticipation of that which he was to do. The Lord knew what was 
in his heart, and saw that he had a valorous spirit, which would work 
when its time was come. Compare with this salutation that given to 
Mary (Luke i. 28, 30). 

" And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why, then, 
is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, 
saying, Did not- the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath for- 
saken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites. 

" And the Lord looked upon him, and said, Go in this thy might, and thou shaTfc 
save Israel from the hand of the Midianites: have I not sent thee?" — Judg. 
vi. 13, 14. 

13. Gideon spoke the language of despair. He was courteous even 
before he knew who addressed him; but he was sad. He saw no 
signs of God's presence. The might of the Ked Sea and the Jordan, 
the glory of Jericho and Esdraelon, were not seen. Israel suffered, 
and had no helper. How could he be present, and his favor be absent ? 
The past was sure ; but the very miracles of other days declared the 
absence of him who had done them. The people were forsaken. 
Midian, the heathen, governed and oppressed (see Deut. xxxi. 17, 18). 
It is singular that there is no hint of the cause of these calamities, 
no word of confession, no token of penitence. God had forsaken 
them: no acknowledgment was made that they had forsaken God. 
This had all been threatened. The word was simply fulfilled. They 
felt its pains, but had no feeling of their desert of the punishment. 
Read Isa. xlix. 14 15. 



JUDGES. 79 

14. " The Lord," before called " the angel of the Lord," but now 
named in his true character. Jehovah looked upon Gideon. He 
turned towards him. He looked upon him with favor (see Ps. xi. 7, 
xxv. 16). He was not about to reproach him for his murmuring, nor 
remind him of his sin. His thoughts were of mercy and help (see 
Num. vi. 25, 26). 

'"Go in this thy might." With the look, strength was imparted. 
He gave courage and wisdom and strength to the man upon whom his 
gaze rested. It was somewhat as our Lord breathed upon his disci- 
ples, saying, ""Receive ye the Holy Ghost" (John xx. 22). At the 
word of the- Lord there went forth ability to obey him. The man 
with a withered hand could stretch it out as he was bidden. The 
palsied man could carry his bed. The dead could rise from his bier, 
or desert his sepulchre. Bead 2 Cor. xii. 9 ; Eph. vi. 11. 

Gideon was promised success. His faith was not rejected because 
it was small, but encouraged with a clear promise. The Lord sent 
him out. The emphasis is on I. If Jehovah sends, we must go ; 
and we shall surely go in a good way, whose end is victory. The 
sending was a divine commission (compare Matt, xxviii. 19-20). 
The Lord God of Moses and Joshua was still with his people ; and 
their deliverance was at hand. 

" And he said unto him, Oh my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? behold, 
my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father's house. 

" And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite 
the Midianites as one man." — Judg. vi. 15, 16. 

15. But Gideon hesitated. The meekness of Moses was upon him. 
Shall this thresher of wheat be "a thresher of men"? (see Exod. 
iii. 11, iv. 10). The man heard the command of the Lord; but his 
heart was not equal to the divine appointment. The least man in 
the poorest family of Manasseh shrank from the work of a chieftain. 
It had not been proved then, as many times as it has since, that the 
Lord chooses his heroes and leaders not as man chooses. Whom 
men overlook, God selects for places of rare honor and usefulness. 

16. The Lord was very patient with Gideon. The encouragement 
was the strongest : " Surely I will be with thee " (see Exod. iii. 12, iv. 
12; Matt, xxviii. 20). If Gideon was weak, he could be strong, if the 
Lord was with him. If Gideon was least, God would be most in the 
coming victory. There would be less likelihood that the man would 
lay claim to the honor, if he knew himself unequal to the undertak- 
ing. The great thing was, that God should be recognized and hon- 
ored and remembered (see 2 Cor. iv. 7). 



80 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

Mark the kindness of the Lord. He not only promises his own 
presence, which should have been enough, but also a complete vic- 
tory. As one man, should the enemy be smitten. 

" And he said unto Mm, If. now, I have found grace in thy sight, then show me 
a sign that thou talkest with me. 

" Depart not hence, I pray thee, until I come unto thee, and bring forth my 
present, and set it before thee. And he said, I will tarry until thou come again." 
— Judg. vi. 17, 18. 

17. Still Gideon was not assured. His faith did not rise to the oc- 
casion. He would have a visible sign that it was the Lord who talked 
with him. He would know certainly that this was not a dream; 
that he was not called and commisioned by one without authority ; 
that all would be even as he was told. 

"If I have found grace in thy sight " is an expression often found 
(see Gen. vi. 8, xviii. 3, xix. 19) : it was a fitting preface to his re- 
quest. 

18. The word "present" was used to denote a meat and drink 
offering. It was in this case a word of convenient ambiguity. 
What he brought is described in verse 19. If this food was received 
and eaten as by a man, the visitor would seem to be a man, — a 
prophet, perhaps: if it was otherwise treated, there would be the 
sign of a celestial visitant. A supernatural personage might be ex- 
pected to receive the kid and unleavened cakes in a way of his own, 
which should declare his character. The stranger was therefore re- 
quested to remain where he was till the present was brought to him. 
To this he agreed. We see in all his treatment of Gideon the great- 
est consideration and patience and good-will. 



Following this lesson we have the account of the bringing of the 
present, and the manner of its reception. When the flesh and cakes 
were laid on the rock, the angel touched them with his staff ; and fire 
came out of the rock, and consumed them. The present was thus re- 
ceived as a religious offering : then the angel vanished from sight. 
He had shown who he was. Gideon knew that he was an angel of the 
Lord. He was afraid. But the voice of the unseen angel, or anoth- 
er voice of the Lord, said, " Peace be unto thee : fear not: thou shalt 
not die." Then Gideon built an altar there where he had seen the 
Lord. By further command, he threw down the altar of Baal, and 
cut down the grove where idolatrous worship had been performed. 



JUDGES. 81 

He built an altar in the ordered place; and, with the wood of the 
grove, lie offered a bullock from his father's herd as burnt sacrifice. 
But fearing his father's household, and the men of the city, he did 
the work by night. The men of the city were incensed when they 
found that the grove and Baal's altar were gone. They demanded 
Gideon of his father, and would have taken vengeance upon him ; 
but Joash shrewdly decreed that no man should plead for Baal: "If 
he be a god, let him plead for himself, because one hath cast down 
his altar." 

Then the Midianites and their allies pitched in the Yalley of Jez- 
reel. They came to oppress and rob Israel (see verses 3-6) ; but 
now they were to encounter a force they could not overcome. The 
Spirit of the Lord came upon Gideon ; and he was stirred for the 
conflict. He summoned his father's house. He sent messengers 
through his own tribe, and the tribes at the north. The men came 
up to him to go against the common enemy. 

Gideon asked yet another sign, and yet another, using a fleece of 
I wool. God was gracious and indulgent, and gave him the signs he 
: desired; so that Gideon was convinced that God would save Israel by 
his hand, as he had said (vers. 36-40). 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. It is easy for the Lord to speak to us. It is natural that he 
should do so. 

2. When our troubles are many and sore, he can deliver us. 

3. When we are chastened, we should remember our faults as 
much as our griefs. If we cannot trace a connection between our 
sin and our suffering, we are still to remember that all suffering 
comes because of sin. 

4. Penitence and prayer have power with God. 

5. Mark the exceeding patience of God. 

6. Put away all idols, and worship God alone. 

7. If idols cannot save us, they have no claim upon our service. 

8. The Spirit of the Lord, the Holy Spirit, in us will make us ex- 
ceeding strong. 



82 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

Lessoh IV. — Gideon's Army. — Chap. vii. 1-8. 

Gideon had gathered his forces to resist the Midianites and those 
who were with them. He had received repeated assurances that the 
Lord would save Israel by his hand. 

" Then Jerubbaal, who is Gideon, and all the people that toere with him, rose up 
early, and pitched beside the well of Harod; so that the host of the Midianites 
were on the north side of them, by the hill of Moreh, in the valley. 

" And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many 
for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves 
against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me." —Judo. vii. 1, 2. 

1. Gideon received the name " Jerubbaal" after he had thrown 
down the altar of Baal, as we read in chap. vi. 32. He was called 
by this name by the men of his city. The name denotes one " with 
whom Baal contends." In 2 Sam. xi. 21 we find Gideon called 
" Jerubbesheth " (compare Judg. viii. 31), which means one "with 
whom the idol contends." 

The well, or spring, of Harod, i.e., "the spring of trembling." It 
was very likely the same with the modern Ain Jahlood, "the spring 
of Goliath," at the foot of Mount Gilboa, in the south of Galilee. 
We have the name again as descriptive of two men in 2. Sam. xxiii. 
25. 

The hill of Moreh was probably what is known as "Little Her- 
mon," a few miles north of Mount Gilboa. For the people included 
under the name " Midianites," see chap. vi. 33. Gideon and his army 
were on the south side of the Valley of Jezreel, beside or above 
the spring of Harod. The Midianites were on the north side of the 
valley. 

2. If the host of Israel was larger or stronger than the enemy, it 
would be taken as the result of its physical superiority that Israel 
gained the victory. It was of the last importance that the Lord 
should have the glory ; because it was above all things important that 
Israel should know the Lord, regain their confidence in him, renew 
their allegiance to him, and be among the heathen the people of the 
Lord. It was necessary, too, that the Lord should be magnified in the 
sight of the heathen. Israel was to say, "The hand of the Lord 
hath saved me." The Midianites were to say, "The hand of the 
Lord hath saved thee." The victory would be quickly won; but the 
lesson would be of permanent value (read Deut. viii. 10-20). The 
power of Jehovah, and the weakness of Baal, were now to be de- 
clared (read Ps. cxv. 1-8). 



JUDGES. 83 

"Now, therefore, go to, proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is 
fearful and afraid, let him return, and depart early from Mount Gilead. And 
there returned of the people twenty and two thousand ; and there remained ten 
thousand. 

" And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many: bring them 
down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there : and it shall be, that of 
whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee ; and 
of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not 
go. 

" So he brought down the people unto the water ; and the Lord said unto Gideon, 
Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt 
thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to 
drink." — Judg. vii. 3-5. 

3. This was the first movement towards the reduction of the army 
of Israel. The fearful were to take themselves away (read Deut. 
xx. 1-8). The reason given in Deuteronomy is not the same with 
that we find here ; but it shows why the timid were sent home when 
the number was to be lessened. The nearness of the multitude of 
the Midianites, with their horses and chariots, struck terror into the 
hearts of the children of Israel. Twenty and two thousand were 
glad of the permission to withdraw. 

" Mount Gilead" was probably the same with Mount Gilboa. 

4. Even ten thousand were too many to leave it manifest that the 
victory was of the Lord, and not of men. The second act of reduc- 
tion was at the spring of water. There the Lord would let each man 
prove himself, or show out his disposition. The decree of separa- 
tion which the Lord should make was to be carried out by Gideon. 

5. Those who threw themselves on the ground, and brought their 
mouths down to the water, would show a self-indulgent spirit, which 
was not becoming in a soldier, especially with the enemy in sight. 
They would not "endure hardness," as good soldiers. Those who 
restrained themselves, and simply took up the water in their hands, 
showed self-restraint. They instinctively kept themselves in a posi- 
tion in which they could spring in an instant upon the enemy, if he 
drew near. The two acts seem small in themselves; but they 
showed forth two kinds of disposition. The latter makes the better 
soldiers. 

" And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 
three hundred men : but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees 
to drink water. 

" And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I 
save you, and deliver the Midianites into thine hand j and let all the other people 
go every man ui.to his place. 



84 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 






" So the people took victuals in their hand, and their trumpets; and he sent all 
the rest of Israel every man unto his tent, and retained those three hundred men ; 
and the host of Midian was beneath him in the valley." — Judg. vii. 6-8. 

6. Most of tlie army fell down, and deliberately drank the water, 
and were thus proved. Three hundred, in a more soldierly way, 
drank from their hands. 

7. Though a miracle was to give them the victory, still the men 
themselves were required to be good soldiers. By the three hundred 
was Israel to be saved ; yet the saving of Israel was of the Lord who 
chose and used them. The rest of the host were dismissed. The 
promise of the Lord was clear. I will save you was the divine 
assurance. Had the army been large, there might have been no such 
promise ; but, reduced to three hundred, it was fitting that Gideon 
should have distinct encouragement. 

8. The three hundred took the food and the trumpets of those who 
were sent back to their tents, so far as was needed to furnish each 
man. We find afterwards that every man had a trumpet, a pitcher, 
and a lamp. Among the ten thousand who were proved at the spring 
would be enough to equip each man of the three hundred for the 
peculiar work he was to do. 

So Gideon was left with his three hundred, with the Lord's prom- 
ise in his heart, and with the numerous and strong hosts of Midian in 
the valley below him. 

Here the lesson ends. But we find Gideon still further encouraged 
by the dream of one of the men ; and, when it was interpreted, he 
said, " Arise; for the Lord hath delivered into your hand the host of 
Midian." Then followed the assault with trumpets and lamps ; and 
the proud enemy ran, and cried, and fled. " The sword of the Lord 
and of Gideon" had prevailed. Gideon followed the fugitives with 
his three hundred, and crossed the Jordan, " faint, yet pursuing." 
At the end "was Midian subdued before the children of Israel, so 
that they lifted up their heads no more, and the country was in 
quietness forty years in the days of Gideon " (chap. viii. 28). The 
men of Israel would have Gideon and his sons in their generations 
rule over them; but Gideon said, "I will not rule over you, neither 
shall my son rule over you: the Lord shall rule over you." 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. The Lord is able to carry out his purposes without the aid of 
men. If he uses men, he does not need a large army. The strength 
is his. 



JUDGES. 85 

2. In carrying ont his plans, the Lord chooses different kinds of 
men for different kinds of work. The man who is too fearful for a 
soldier can serve in a peaceful life. For martial life, brave, self-deny- 
ing, patient, enduring men are needed, and that even while all is of 
God. 

3. God is gracious in encouraging us with promises ; and his prom- 
ises are sure of fulfilment. 

4. Gideon believed God. In that was the secret of his achieve- 
ments (see Heb. xi. 32). 

Lesson Y. — The Death of Samson. — Chap. xvi. 25-31. 

We pass over a large interval in coming from the last lesson to this. 
There was time for the apostasy of Israel, and the establishment of a 
temple for Baal ; for the conspiracy of Abimelech, by which he was 
made king over the Shechemites, to be slain after reigning three 
years; for the judgeship of Tola and of Jair; for the selling of the 
Israelites for their idolatry into the hands of the Philistines and 
Ammonites ; for the romantic history of Jephthah, and his conquest 
of the children of Ammon ; for the judgeship of Ibzan and Elon and 
Abdon : with this we are brought to the story of Samson. 

At the beginning of chap. xiii. we find the Israelites in the hands 
of the Philistines in consequence of idolatry. Who should come for 
their succor ? 

" The Philistines present themselves to our notice, if not absolutely 
for the first time, yet for the first time as a powerful and hostile nation. 
In the original conquest by Joshua, they are hardly mentioned. 
Their name seems to indicate their late arrival, — the * strangers ' 
.... Unlike the rest of the inhabitants of Canaan, they were 
uncircumcised, and appear to have stood on a lower level of civiliza- 
tion : they were almost, it may be said, the laughing-stock of their 
livelier and quicker neighbors, from their dull, heavy stupidity: the 
easy prey of the rough humor of Samson, or the agility and cunning 
of the diminutive David. ... Of all the tribes of Israel, that on 
which these new-comers pressed most heavily was the small tribe of 
Dan, already straitened between the mountains and the sea, and 
communicating with its seaport Joppa only by passing through the 
Philistine territory. Out of this tribe, accordingly, the deliverer 
came." — Stanley's Jewish Church. 

The story of Samson begins in chapter xiii. He was the son of 
Manoah, and of the tribe of Dan. His birth was announced by the 



85 NOTES FOE TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

angel of the Lord. The child was to be a Nazarite from his birth ; 
and he was to deliver Israel from the Philistines. The child was born, 
and as he grew "the Lord blessed him. And the Spirit of the Lord 
began to move him at times in the camp of Dan." He gave token 
of what he was to be, perhaps in his plans for Israel, and in his feats 
of might. The order of Nazarites "was the nearest approach to a 
monastic institution that the Jewish Church contained. It was, as 
its name implies, a separation from the rest of the nation, partly by 
the abstinence from all intoxicating drink, partly by the retention of 
the savage covering of long flowing tresses of hair. The order thus 
begun continued to the latest times." 

"Samson takes his place in Scripture: (1) As a judge, an office 
which he filled for twenty years; (2) As a Nazarite; (3) As one 
endowed with supernatural power by the spirit of the Lord." With 
the incidents of Samson's life the children are familiar, — how he 
slew a young lion with his hands : how he made a riddle which could 
be guessed only through the importunity of his Philistine wife ; how 
he burned the corn of the Philistines with firebrands tied to the tails 
of foxes ; how he slew the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass ; 
how he carried away the gates of Gaza ; how he could not be bound 
and held captive till Delilah found out the secret of his strength, and 
the seven locks of his head were shaved off ; how, then, the Lord was 
departed from him, his immense might was gone, and he was in the 
power of the Philistines. 

Samson " was full of the spirits and pranks, no less than of the 
strength, of a giant. Nothing can disturb his radiant good-humor. 
His most valiant, his most cruel actions, are done with a smile on 
his face, and a jest in his mouth. Out of his first achievement he 
draws the materials for his playful riddle. His second and third 
achievements are practical jests on the largest scale. The mischiev- 
ousness of the conflagration of the cornfields by means of the 
jackals is subordinate to the ludicrousness of the sight. . . . The 
whole point of the massacre of the thousand Philistines lies in the 
cleverness with which their clumsy triumph is suddenly turned into 
discomfiture; and their discomfiture is celebrated by the punning 
turn of the hero, not forgotten even in the exultation or the weari- 
ness of victory. ' With the jawbone of an ass have I slain one mass, 
two masses : with the jawbone of an ass I have slain an ox-load of 
men.' The carrying-off the gates of Gaza derives all its force from* 
the neatness with which the Philistine watchmen are outdone on the 
very spot where they thought themselves secure. . . . The closing 
scenes of his life breathe throughout the same terrible yet gro- 
tesque irony. When the captive warrior is called forth, in the merri- 



JUDGES. 87 

merit of his persecutors, to exercise for the last time the well-known 
raillery of his character, he appears as the great jester or buffoon of 
the nation. The word employed expresses alike the roars of laughter 
and the wild gambols with which he ' made them sport ; ' and as he 
puts forth the last energy of his vengeance, the final effort of his ex- 
piring strength, it is in a stroke of broad and savage humor that his 
indignant spirit passes away." — Stanley's Jewish Church. 

When the Philistines had Samson helpless in their power, they 
attributed his capture to their god Dagon, and came together to offer 
a great sacrifice of thanksgiving to him. 

" And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for 
Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the 
prison-house ; and he made them sport : and they set him between the pillars.'" — 
Judg. xvi. 25. 

25. When their hearts were merry, they crowned their festivities 
by bringing Samson from prison, that he might make sport for them. 
This was at Gaza, which was one of the Philistine strongholds. The 
Philistines had put out his eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, 
and made him grind in the prison-house, which was the task of 
captives and slaves. But the hair of his head was growing while 
they were doing these things ; and his strength was returning. 

The hearts of the Philistines were merry with wine (see chap, 
xix. 6, 22; 1 Sam. xxv. 36). In their drunkenness, their cruelty had 
free course, and they would have their blind prisoner dance before 
them. He came out, and danced and made music for their amuse- 
ment; " And they set him between the pillars " of the house. 

"And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I 
may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. 

" Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philis- 
tines were there ; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and 
women, that beheld while Samson made sport. 

"And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I 
pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at 
once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. 

" And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, 
and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other 
with his left. 

"And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself 
with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people 
that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they 
which he slew in his life." — Judg. xvi. 26-30. 

26. He was led by a lad, of whom he asked leave to feel the pillars, 
and to lean upon them, as if to rest from his weariness in playing 
before the people. 



88 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

• 

27. It was a large and imposing assemblage. Within the nouse 
were the lords and persons of note, as it appears ; and on the flat roof 
were about three thousand men and women who were watching the 
sport on the ground below them. 

28. The prayer of Samson was natural. It was not a prayer for the 
forgiveness of his enemies, but for vengeance upon them. When we 
consider the provocation he had, and the habits of the times, and the 
people whose destruction he sought, there is no cause to be surprised 
at his prayer, though we may condemn its spirit, and mark how far 
it is from the gospel rules for the treatment of those who have 
wronged us. Mark the faith of Samson, who prays to the Lord God 
even in the presence of Dagon. 

29. The roof seems to have been sustained by the two pillars on 
which Samson leaned. He was able to take hold of both pillars, one 
with each hand. 

30. Samson had no desire to live. What joy could he have without 
his eyes, and without the . sources of enjoyment which are open to 
many others ? He would die with his enemies. Let the house fall 
with them, though he was buried beneath it. He bowed himself, and 
put forth all his strength: the pillars gave way, and the roof fell, 
with its three thousand men and women, upon the lords and others 
who were under it. The destruction was great: " So the dead which 
he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." 

The Lord gave Samson strength for this final act. It was a judg- 
ment upon the wicked and idolatrous Philistines. Samson was used 
as a famine or plague might have been. Samson was the willing 
instrument of divine justice. That he was avenging himself, and that 
the plan was of his suggestion, made it none the less true that in this 
way the Lord punished the Philistines, and with just penalties. 

" Then Ms brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, 
and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying- 
place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years." — Judg. xvi. 31. 

31. In the excitement caused by this sudden calamity, the brethren 
of Samson, and other Danites, were able to obtain the body of their 
fallen kinsman, and to give it honorable burial in the burying-place of 
his father. Zorah and Eshtaol are mentioned in chap. xiii. 25. They 
were in the territory of Dan. So the strong man rested where his 
strength could avail him nothing, where the strong and the weak are 
held by one hand. He judged Israel twenty years. " As a judge, his 



JUDGES. 89 

authority seems to have been limited to the district bordering upor. 
the country of the Philistines ; and his action as a deliverer does not 
seem to have extended beyond desultory attacks upon the dominant 
Philistines, by which their hold upon Israel was weakened, and the 
way prepared for the future emancipation of the Israelites from their 
yoke." Samson's twenty years in the office of judge were evidently 
included in the forty years of the subjection of the Israelites to the 
Philistines, and would correspond essentially to the latter half of 
that period of subjection. Samson died, according to the usual reck- 
oning, about B.C. 1116. His faith is commended in Heb, xi. 32. 

Here we leave the Book of Judges. The remainder of the book is 
a sort of "appendix, containing two detached narratives, — the one of 
the establishment of the worship of Micah's graven image at Dan; 
the second of the civil war with Benjamin." " In those days there 
was no king in Israel : every man did that which was right in his own 
eyes." 

After Samson the next judge was Eli, and the next was Samuel, 
with whom the office came to an end. 

PRACTICAL. THOUGHTS. 

1. We see in Samson great physical strength, with little intellec- 
tual or moral strength. We see how far inferior he is to a man like 
Joshua. 

2. We see the tender mercies of the wicked, and how cruel they 
are. 

3. We see once more the power of the Lord to defend his own 
authority, and to punish those who disregard it. 

4. If the men of Judah had possessed more of Samson's spirit, they 
might sooner have escaped from the Philistines. But read chap. 
xv. 11. 

Lesson VI. — Buth and ISTaomi. — Chap. i. 16-22. 

The Book of Buth contains " another detached narrative, which 
anciently was included under the title of Judges, to which book the 
first verse shows that it properly belongs." 

" As the great grandmother of King David, Buth must have flour- 
ished in the latter part of Eli's judgeship, or the beginning of that 
of Samuel ; but there seem to be no particular notes of time in the 
book by which her age can be more exactly defined. The story was 
8* 



90 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS, 

put into its present shape, avowedly, long after her lifetime.' ' We 
may place Ruth in, perhaps, the twelfth century before Christ. The 
authorship of the book has usually been ascribed to Samuel ; but in 
regard to this nothing is known. 

The story itself is full of interest ; but, beyond this, the genealogy 
with which the book closes is important in making up the sacred 
genealogy. The book is of great historical worth, because it gives the 
lineage of David, and the ancestry of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

In the days when the judges ruled, Elimelech and his wife Naomi, 
with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, dwellers in Bethelem-ju- 
dah, or Ephratah as it was called in more ancient times, were forced 
by the famine in their own land to seek a home in the country of 
Moab, beyond the Jordan. There Elimelech died, and his sons mar- 
ried two women of Moab. Mahlon married one named Ruth, and 
Chilion married Orpah. 

" Marriages of Israelites with women of Ammon or Moab are no- 
where expressly forbidden, as marriages with the women of Canaan 
were (Deut. vii. 1-3). Still in the days of Nehemiah the law (Deut. 
xxiii. 3-6) was interpreted as forbidding them, and as excluding the 
children of such marriages from the congregation of Israel (Neh. 
xiii. 1-3, 23-27). . . . But probably the marriages of Mahlon and 
Chilion would be justified by necessity, living as they were in a for- 
eign land." Others say, " this was a violation of the Mosaic law; and 
Jewish writers say, that the early deaths of both the young men were 
divine judgments inflicted on them for those unlawful connec- 
tions." 

It is not necessary to adopt this harsher explanation. But, after 
living in Moab for ten years, both of the men died. 

Then the elder widow resolved to return to her own country ; "for 
she had heard how that the Lord had visited his people in giving them 
bread." She started on her journey; and the two younger widows 
went out with her. It was a courteous and affectionate act to accom- 
pany their desolate mother-in-law, at least as far as the limits of their 
own country. When they had gone as far as Naomi thought it need- 
ful, she bade both of her daughters-in-law to return to their mother's 
house. She gave them her blessing, kissed them, and they wept 
together. The younger women refused to leave the elder. She urged 
them to return. She pitied them for their own sorrow and loneliness, 
but would not have them share her hopeless life. At length Orpah 
kissed Naomi, and left her; " but Ruth clave unto her." Naomi urged 
Ruth to follow Orpah, and return to her own people and her gods. 
This brings us to the verses chosen for the present lesson. 



JUDGES. 91 

"And Ruth said, Entreat; me not to leave thee, or to return from following 
after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will 
lodge : thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God." — Ruth i. 16. 

16. Ruth was determined to adhere to Naomi. This involved the 
forsaking of her own country and its religion, and the casting-in of 
her lot with one of another nation, whose worship and trust were 
given to the Lord. She was very explicit and decided in her resolve. 
To Naomi and her fortunes, her home, her people, her God, this 
widow of the land of Moab would cling. It is an admirable instance 
of devotion. Read of Elijah's effort to have Elisha leave him, and 
Elisha's reply: "As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I will not 
leave thee (2 Kings ii. 1-6). 

" Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried : the Lord do so to me, 
and more also, if aught but death part thee and me. 

11 When she saw that she was steadfastly minded to go with her, then she left 
speaking unto her. 

" So they two went until they came to Beth-lehem. And it came to pass, when 
they were come to Beth-lehem, that all the city was moved about them, and they 
said, 7s this Naomi ? 

" And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara; for the Almighty 
hath dealt very bitterly with me." — Ruth i. 17-20. 

17. When she should have ended her days, she would not be taken 
back to. her own land, that her dust might mingle with its kindred 
dust (read Gen. xlix. 29, 1. 25) : she would be buried with her 
mother-in-law. For her she would forsake house and land, kindred 
and friends. Her determination she confirmed by a solemn appeal 
to the Lord. She was willing to be cut off from the Lord and his 
covenants, if she let any thing but death part her from her mother. 
Death could not be avoided ; but voluntary separation could. Against 
this, she made her vow, using a form of imprecation frequently 
found in the Books of Samuel and the Kings (see 2 Sam. hi. 9; 
1 Sam. iii. 17, xiv. 44, xx. 13; 1 Kings ii. 23; 2 Kings vi. 31). 

18. Naomi saw that her resistance was useless, and " left speaking 
to her." Earnestly as she had reasoned against Ruth's purpose, she 
must have been deeply affected by her devotion, and greatly pleased 
at the affection which it displayed. 

19. All the city of Bethlehem was moved by the return of Naomi. 
Iler old neighbors and friends greeted her with eagerness. Her 
changed appearance astonished them. She was like, and yet unlike, 
the woman who left them with her husband and sons a few years 
before. "And they said, Is this Naomi?" "They" is feminine. 
This was the inquiry of the women of Bethlehem. 



92 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

20. It was Naomi, but sadly changed. Her name meant "pleas- 
ant," " sweet." She would be called Mara, " bitter" (Exod. xv. 23). 
It was common to denote the condition by the name. 

" The name Almighty is almost peculiar to the Pentateuch, and to 
the Book of Job, in which last it is found thirty times. It occurs 
twice in the Psalms, and four times in the prophets." 

Naomi felt that her troubles were from the Lord (see Job xxvii. 2). 

" I went out full, and the Lord hath brought me home again empty : why, then, 
call ye me Naomi, seeing the Lord hath testified against me, and the Almighty 
hath afflicted me ? 

" So Naomi returned, and Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, with her, 
which returned out of the country of Moab ; and they came to Beth-lehem in the 
beginning of the barley harvest." —Ruth i. 21, 22. 

21. She had left Bethlehem with her husband and two sons : she 
came back only with the widow of one of her sons. She felt herself 
empty. Family, home, hope, were gone. Her reasoning was, that, 
in taking away her family, the Lord was bearing witness to her sins. 
The chastisement declared the fault for which it was inflicted (read 
Job viii. 6, xi. 6). Why should she, who was sorely stricken for her 
sins, be still called Naomi ? 

22. This was the way, this was the spirit, in which the widow of 
Elimelech came home. She was not utterly desolate. One faithful 
heart clung to her in evil as in good. The younger woman was known 
as the Moabitess (chap. ii. 6) : she was " the Moabitish damsel that 
came back with Naomi out of the country of Moab." It is a touch- 
ing description of her. She had left Moab for Bethlehem-judah. She 
had left her own mother for her mother-in-law. She had turned 
from all that was hopeful in her life to attend upon the widowed 
Mara. Stranger though she was, all this must have commended her 
to the people of Bethlehem. 

They came to Bethlehem in the beginning of barley harvest, which 
was at the end of what is our March. 

The rest of the story is full of simplicity and beauty. Ruth gleaned 
in the field of her rich kinsman, Boaz, and finally became his wife. 
Thus was her fidelity rewarded. She found riches and friends and 
home. She gained high honor for herself, and gave honor to her 
nation, and her adopted people. 

Her son was Obed, the father of J&sse, the father of David. Thus 
she became the ancestress of " Great David's greater Son." In the 
genealogy of our Lord her name has its place (Matt. i. 5). 



JUDGES. 93 

Moab was the grandson of Lot by his elder daughter, and the 
progenitor of the Moabites. Ben-Ammi was also the grandson of Lot 
by his younger daughter; and he was the progenitor of the Ammon- 
ites. These two peoples were closely connected through their whole 
history. " Indeed, so close was their union, and so near their 
identity, that each would appear to be occasionally spoken of under 
the name of the other." In the separation of Abram and Lot was 
the beginning of the separation which was to be between oheir de- 
scendants. Israel was to have its history ; Moab and Ammon theirs : 
and between the two lines there must be no agreement. Alienation, 
hatred, warfare, marked the relation of the two families and nations. 
In Deut. xxiii. 3-6, we find the Ammonite and Moabite forbidden to 
enter into the congregation of the Lord. They were hostile to the 
Israelites at their approach to Canaan ; and afterwards they hired 
Baalam to curse Israel. Israel served the Lord : Moab bowed before 
Baal. In Ruth i. 15, we find that Orpah went back " unto her 
gods." 

The separation was therefore marked between Israel and Moab 
from the days of Abram and Lot ; and the advantage, in all respects, 
was with Israel, who served Jehovah. But here we find the two 
lines coming together. In Ruth Moab becomes connected at one 
point with Israel. Her son Obed has the blood of both Israel and 
Moab in his veins ; so Jesse ; so David. Through Ruth the Moabite 
came into the congregation of the Lord. 

There is another point of meeting for the two alien lines. Rahab of 
Jericho, who, for her faith, and her kindness to Israel, was spared at 
the destruction of the city, married Salmon, who, possibly, was one 
of the spies whose life she saved. Salmon was descended from 
Judah, and so from Abraham, as we read in Matt. i. 2-4. Here, 
then, was a marriage between an Israelite and a Canaanite. She had, 
by her friendship for Israel, separated herself from her people, and 
expressed her faith in the God of Israel. " I know that the Lord 
hath given you the land," she said. " The Lord your God, he is 
God in heaven above, and in earth beneath" (Josh. ii. 9, 11). By 
her conduct she showed herself worthy of marriage with an Israelite ; 
and an exception might well be made in her favor. The son of 
Salmon and Rahab was Boaz, who became the husband of Ruth, and 
the ancestor of David. Thus the two lines of Israel and Canaan 
meet. Canaan was the fourth son of Ham. Noah's curse was upon 
the family: "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be 
unto his brethren. . . . Blessed be the Lord God of Shem; and 
Canaan shall be his servant" (Gen. ix. 25, 26). But Shem and Ham 
came together in the marriage of Salmon and Rahab, and in the person 



94 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

of their son Boaz, who joined Moab to himself when he married Ruth. 
Obed, therefore, had the blood of three families in him. The Israelite, 
the Canaanite, and the Moabite blend in him. So, also, in David. 
And our Lord Jesus Christ, of the house of David, had kinship with 
the Gentiles. In each case the Israelite predominated, and was at 
the head of the alliance. Salmon, the man, the father, was the 
Israelite, and Boaz in his turn. But it is interesting to think that 
our Saviour, the Saviour of Jew and Gentile, was connected by blood 
with the Gentiles as well as with the Jews. When he thought of 
his own ancestry, of the gentle Ruth, from whom, according to the 
flesh, he was descended, we can easily believe that he had a special 
tenderness towards those who were " aliens from the commonwealth 
of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise." His purpose 
embraced them with the Jews ; and he bade his disciples preach his 
gospel to every creature in all the world. Large honor came to 
Ruth, an illustrious connection, an eternal delight, through her 
constancy towards the stricken Naomi. 



PEACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. The devotion of Ruth beautifully illustrates the devotion which 
the Saviour requires of us all. We must be willing to leave all, and 
follow him. Put Christ in Naomi's place, and say to him what is 
written in Ruth i. 16, 17. 

2. Here is illustrated, also, the promise of the Lord, — that those 
who leave all for him shall have manifold more in this present time, 
and an exceeding reward in the world to come. Ruth greatly blessed 
herself when she gave herself to Mara and her God. 

3. Mark the difference between a regard for Christ, and the conse- 
cration he asks. Orpah felt kindly towards her mother-in-law. She 
wept with her, and kissed her ; but she left her, and went back to her 
own people. Ruth loved and wept; but she also " clave unto her." 
Between the kissing and the cleaving is a world-wide difference. It 
is not enough to esteem Christ, and wish him well : we must give 
ourselves to him for life and death. 

4. The whole story encourages us to do right, to be noble and 
good. 

5. The genealogy of the Saviour should bring him very near to our 
hearts, and strengthen our confidence in him. 



SAMUEL. 95 

Lesson TIL — A Peaying Mother. — Chap. i. 21-28. 

The two books of Samuel are called also the First and Second Book 
of the Kings. Both names are fitting. The books contain the his- 
tory of the life and career of Samuel, and also of the rise of the 
kingdom of Israel. The books cover about one hundred and forty 
years, perhaps from B.C. 1155 to B.C. 1015. The authorship of the 
books cannot be ascertained. The prevalent opinion has been, that 
Samuel wrote the greater part of the first book (chap, i.-xxiv.), and 
that Nathan and Gad completed the work (see 1 Chron. xxix. 29). 

At the opening of this book, Eli was judge and high priest. Elka- 
nah, who is named in ver. 1, was of Bamah. The name Bamathaim 
is the dual form of Bamah, and means " the two hills," upon which, 
it is probable, the town was built. The force of Zophim is not 
clearly known. In chap. ix. 5 we have " the land of Zuph." Zuph 
seems to have been the head of the Zuphites, or sons of Zuph, from 
whom the land took its name. This Zuph, as we see in this verse, 
was one of the ancestors of Elkanah. From Zuph the name Zophim 
was added to Bamah. The precise situation of the place cannot be 
determined. Elkanah lived in the domain of Ephraim, and is called 
an Ephrathite. He had two wives, as the law allowed, or tolerated 
(Deut. xxi. 15). One had sons and daughters; but the other, Han- 
nah, had no child. This was a great grief to her. She poured out 
her sorrow before the Lord, who listened to her prayer. When her 
son was born, she named him Samuel, i.e., " Heard of God," saying, 
" Because I have asked him of the Lord." 

" And the man Elkanah, and all his house, went up to offer unto the Lord the 
yearly sacrifice, and his vow. 

"But Hannah went not up; for she said unto her husband, I will not go up 
until the child be weaned, and then I will bring him, that he may appear before 
the Lord, and there abide forever. 

"And Elkanah her husband said unto her, Do what seemeth thee good: tarry 
until thou have weaned him ; only the Lord establish his word. So the woman 
abode, and gave her son suck until she weaned him. 

" And, when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bul- 
locks, and one ephah of flour, and a bottle of wine, and brought him unto the 
house of the Lord in Shiloh: and the child was young." — 1 Sam. i. 21-24. 

21. Of this yearly sacrifice which Elkanah made, we read in ver. 3. 
He made this year by year (see chap. xx. 6). This seems to have 
been different from the three great feasts of the nation. It appears 
to have been a domestic festival. " It is likely, that, during the unset- 
tled times of the judges, the attendance of Israelites at the three 
festivals fell into desuetude or great irregularity ; and this one feast, 



96 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 






which may have coincided with the feast of Pentecost or Tabernacles, 
may have been substituted for them," In ver. 11 we read that Han- 
nah made a vow. Perhaps her husband had joined with her in mak- 
ing it. In regard to the connection of the husband with the vow of 
his wife, read Num. xxx. For the offering with a vow, read Lev. vii. 16. 

22. The child would not be weaned, according to the Hebrew usage, 
until he was two, or perhaps three years old. When this time was 
reached, Hannah would take Samuel up to the tabernacle at Shiloh, 
and leave him there. " Forever" would be as long as he should 
live (see Ps. xxiii. 6). 

23. In ver. 17 we have the blessing which Eli gave to Hannah. 
This blessing was taken as a promise ; or, possibly, more was said in 
the way of direct promise than is here recorded. The word of the 
high priest was regarded by Hannah and her husband as the word of 
the Lord. This was the word, apparently, which Elkanah prayed the 
Lord would establish. 

24. In due time, Hannah went with her son to Shiloh. We here 
have three bullocks : in the next verse we have one bullock, or the 
bullock, offered. Instead of three bullocks, it would be better to read, 
with the Septuagint, " a bullock of three years old " (see Gen. xv. 9). 
But she took an ephah of flour ; while three-tenths of an ephah (ISTum. 
xxviii. 12) was sufficient for the meat-offering to accompany one 
bullock. An ephah was a little more than three pecks. She went up 
to make her offering unto the Lord who had blessed her. 

" And they slew a bullock, and brought the child to Eli. 

"And she said, Oh my lord, as thy soul liveth, my lord, I am the woman that 
stood by thee here, praying unto the Lord. 

"For this child I prayed; and the Lord hath given me my petition which I 
asked of him : 

" Therefore, also, I have lent him to the Lord: as long as he liveth he shall be 
lent to the Lord. And he worshipped the Lord there." — 1 Sam. i. 25-28. 

25. Eli stood as the representative of the Lord. Before him she 
presented herself with her child, when her sacrifice had been made. 

" As thy soul liveth." This form of oath, or asseveration, is found 
six times in these books, and once in the Books of Kings. It is not 
found elsewhere. "As the Lord liveth" is found often at this 
period, which was "characteristically the age of vows." The former 
visit of Hannah is recorded in vers. 9-19. Then Eli at first thought 
her drunken from her demeanor. When he learned her grief and 
desire, he blessed her. Now he saw her rejoicing. It was fitting that 
her thanks should be given where her petition had been made. 



SAMUEL. 97 

27. Eli said (ver. 17), " Tlie God of Israel grant thee thy petition 
that thou hast asked of him." Presenting her child, the living an- 
swer to her prayer, she repeated his words : " The Lord hath given me 
my petition which I asked of him. 

28. "I have lent him to the Lord," or I have " returned him whom 
I have obtained by petition, to the Lord." The word "lent" is the 
same which is translated "asked" in ver. 20, but in another conju- 
gation. As she had asked, so would she give, even to the same end. 
She did not design to call him back ; for he was to be the Lord's " as 
long as he liveth." 

The worship was Hannah's ; but it was in connection with her boy, 
and in his behalf. Doubtless he joined, as far as his age would 
enable him. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. In our need we should pray. 

2. When we are answered, we should give thanks. 

3. Whatever God gives should be given back to him in consecra- 
tion. 

4. Children should be taught that they belong to God, and that 
they are to worship him. 

5. Samuel was greatly blessed in his mother ; but all mothers can 
be like Hannah in piety, and their children will have the benefit. 

6. If it was easy to give a child to the unseen God, it should be 
easier to give one to Him who took little children in his arms, and 
blessed them. 



Lessoist VIII. — The Child Samuel. — Chap. iii. 1-10. 

" And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. And the word of 
the Lord was precious in those days : there was no open vision. 

" And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and 
his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see ; 

" And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark 
of God was, and Samuel was laid down to sleep " — 1 Sam. iii. 1-3. 

1. We have a brief account of Samuel's ministry in chap. ii. 18, 
19. From 1 Chron. vi. 16, 22, 23, we learn that Samuel was a Levite : 



98 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

it was therefore proper that he should serve the priest. He was 
girded with a linen ephod, like the sacred vestment worn by the 
priests, but of coarser material. Every year his mother made him " a 
little coat," a garment to be worn under the ephod, reaching to the 
feet. We read of this coat afterward (see 1 Sam. xv. 27, xxviii. 14) : 
in those places it is called a mantle. Even in his boyhood Samuel 
wore the priest's dress in part, thus giving token of the high duties 
which were to be laid upon him. 

The work of Samuel appears to have been to put out the light on 
the sacred candlestick, and at sunrise to open the doors. He lived in 
one of the tents or apartments around the sanctuary, and near to the 
high priest. He was in immediate attendance upon Eli. 

The word of the Lord came to him, and was spoken by him. In 
Acts iii. 24, we find him called a prophet. Such declarations of the 
divine will were especially precious. There was then no one publicly 
recognized as the prophet of the Lord, who was to be consulted by 
the people. "No open vision" may be rendered, " there was no 
vision promulgated or published." 

2. Eli was an old man ; and his eyes were waxing dim, that he could 
not see (see Gen. xxvii. 1). Eli had laid himself down to sleep. 

3. Samuel, also, was laid down to sleep. The lamp was still burning 
in the tabernacle. The lamp was the golden candlestick which bore the 
light. It was lighted at evening, and dressed every morning (Exod. 

7, 8). " The temple " was then the tabernacle. 



" That the Lord called Samuel; and he answered, Here am I. 

" And he ran unto Eli, and said, Here am I ; for thou calledst me. And he 
said, I called not : lie down again. And he went and lay down. 

" And the Lord called yet again, Samuel. And Samuel arose, and went to Eli, 
and said, Here am I ; for thou didst call me. And he answered, I called not, my 
son : lie down again. 

" Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither was the word of the Lord yet 
revealed unto him. 

" And the Lord called Samuel again' the third time. And he arose, and went to 
Eli, and said, Here am I ; for thou didst call me. And Eli perceived that the 
Lord had called the child. 

u Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go, lie down : and it shall be, if he call thee, 
that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went and 
lay down in his place. 

" And the Lord came, and stood, and called as at other times. Samuel, Samuel. 
Then Samuel answered, Speak; for thy servant heareth." — 1 Sam. iii. 4-10. 

4. "Here am I" is, literally, "Behold me." It was a customary 
answer when one was called (vers. 5, 6, 8, 16 ; Gen. xxii. 1, 7 ; Exod. 
iii. 4). 



SAMUEL. 99 

5. Eli was, very likely, accustomed to call him when he needed any 
thing for himself or the tabernacle services. Being old, and of dim 
vision, he would be likely to avail himself, even at night, of the aid of 
his youthful assistant. If Eli had never been known to call him, 
when Samuel heard his name spoken, he would naturally think it was 
Eli who was speaking. 

He hastened to the aged priest, to find that he had not called. 
Then he went and lay down again as he was bidden. 

6. All this was repeated, — the call, the answer, the return to his 
couch. 

7. Samuel did not yet know that the Lord was likely to speak to 
him. He was not looking for a revelation. The Lord as he was to 
be to him he did not know. 

8. Again he was called. Again he went to Eli. At length the 
priest understood the matter. He " perceived that the Lord had 
called the child." 

9. He changed his directions to Samuel. He was to lie down as 
before. If again he heard his name called, he was not to run to Eli, 
but to make answer to the Lord, " Speak, Lord; for thy servant 
heareth." 

10. This time there was more than a voice. The words indicate "a 
personal presence." " The Lord came, and stood, and called as at 
other times" (Gen. xviii. 17, 33; Judg. vi. 14). Samuel obeyed Eli, 
and answered, " Speak; for thy servant heareth." The Lord an- 
nounced to Samuel the destruction of Eli's house; and in the 
morning, at the bidding of the high priest, Samuel was obliged to 
tell him what he had heard. Eli accepted the revelation, and bowed 
submissively to his fate: "It is the Lord: let him do what seemeth 
him good." 

Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him. Soon all Israel knew 
that he was " established to be a prophet of the Lord." And the 
Lord made to him other revelations at Shiloh. 



PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Children can be useful in connection with the sanctuary and its 
services. 

2. Samuel's prompt obedience of what he thought to be Eli's call is 
worthy of imitation. 



100 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

3. Samuol's prompt answer when lie learned that he was hearing 
the Lord's voice is worthy of imitation. 

4. Samuel's truthfulness in telling Eli all that he had heard, hard 
as it must have been, deserves imitation. 

5. Eli's submission to the will of the Lord shows a pious heart. 
What the Lord will do is right. 



Lesson IX. — The Death of Eli. —-Chap. iv. 12-18. 

The opening words of this chapter are naturally connected with 
the close of the preceding chapter. 

The mention in ver. 1 of the Philistines " connects the narrative 
with Judg. xiii.-xvi., which is the last time the Philistines were 
mentioned, when the relations between the two people were of the 
same kind as they appear here, — struggles, not as yet effectual, on the 
part of Israel, to throw off the Philistine yoke." The latter years 
of Eli's service as judge and the early part of Samuel's judgeship 
seem to have been " coincident with the lifetime of Samson." 

The character of the two sons of Eli is given in chap. ii. They 
were sons of Belial. Belial is not to be taken as a proper name, but 
as the personification of worthlessness, lawlessness. They grossly 
abused the office of priest, which they held. " The sin of the young 
men was very great before the Lord ; for men abhorred the offering 
of the Lord." Eli knew their wickedness, and remonstrated with 
them, but not with the decision and force he should have used. 
"His sons made themselves vile ; and he restrained them not." It 
was announced to Eli by the "man of God" (chap. ii. 27, 34) that 
they should both die in one day. By Samuel, also, the Lord an- 
nounced to Eli that his house should be judged, and its iniquity not 
"purged with sacrifice nor offering forever." 

"The Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten; and they fled 
every man into his tent." Thirty thousand footmen of Israel fell. 

" And there ran a man of Benjamin out of the army, and came to Shiloh the 
same day, with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head." —1 Sam. iv. 12. 

12. The batt-e was between Eben-ezer and Aphek (chap. iv. 1). 
Eben-ezer was a name afterward given (chap. vii. 12). It was a little 
north of Jerusalem; but its precise place cannot be determined. 
Aphek was at the north-west of Jerusalem, and not very far distant. 



8AM U EL. 101 

After the rout of Israel, a man of the tribe of Benjamin ran to 
Shiloh with the sad tidings. Eunners were often employed in ancient 
days for sending news (2 Sam. xviii. 19, 27). Footmen often attended 
the chariots in which persons of distinction were riding (2 Sam. xv. 1; 
Jer. xii. 5). This runner showed the nature of his message by his 
rent clothes, and the earth upon his head. These were the marks of 
calamity and grief ( 2 Sam. i. 2; Josh. vii. 6). 

" And when he came, lo, EH sat upon a seat by the wayside, watching; for his 
heart trembled for the ark of God. And when the man came into the city, and 
told it, all the city cried out." — 1 Sam. iv. 13. 

13. Eli was on his official seat, mentioned in chap. i. 9. " This 
seat was probably set at the gate leading into the inner court of the 
tabernacle." In that place he could quickly receive any news from 
the army. The most natural understanding of his position implies 
that he sat by the side of the gate, watching the road by which tid- 
ings would come. 

After the first defeat of the Israelites, the elders advised that the 
ark of the Lord be brought from Shiloh to the battle-field. This was 
done. At the coming of the ark, the Israelites shouted with a great 
shout; and the Philistines were alarmed. They saw the presence of 
the God who smote the Egyptians, and feared for themselves.; but 
urging one another to bravery, incited to special heroism by their 
leaders, they renewed the conflict (vers. 3-9). Hophni and Phinehas 
were with the ark. But the heart of Eli was chiefly anxious concern- 
ing the ark, whose guardian he was. 

The high priest rose above the father, and he trembled for the ark. 
The runner entered the city, and made known the utter defeat of the 
army of Israel. 'The city cried out in distress and alarm. 

" And, when Eli heard the noise of the crying, he said, What meaneth the noise 
of this tumult? And the man came in hastily, and told Eli. 

" Now Eli was ninety and eight years old ; and his eyes were dim, that he could 
not see. 

" And the man said unto Eli, I am he that came out of the army, and I fled 
to-day out of the army. And he said, What is there done, my son? 

" And the messenger answered, and said, Israel is fled before the Philistines, 
and there hath been also a great slaughter among the people, and thy two sons 
also, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God is taken. 

" And it came to pass, when he made mention of the ark of God, that he fell 
from off the seat backward by the side of the gate ; and his neck brake, and he 
died : for he was an old man, and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years." 
— 1 Sam. iv. 14-18. 

14. Eli heard the crying, and asked the meaning of it. The runner 
went in where the high priest was, and gav r him the dreaded intelli- 
gence.. 

9* 



102 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

15. Eli was ninety-eight years old. The word here rendered " dim " 
is different from that so translated in chap. iii. 2. The word here 
means "stood." "His eyes were set by reason of his age. The 
phrase seems to express the fixed state of the blind eye, which is not 
affected by the light. Eli's blindness, while it made him alive to 
sounds, prevented his seeing the rent garments and dust-besprinkled 
head of the messenger of bad tidings.' ' 

16. Apparently, the battle had taken place on the morning of that 
day, and within a distance over which a runner could pass in a few 
hours. He told Eli whence he came. Eli spoke to him as an old 
man to one young, calling him, "My son" (see Josh. vii. 19; Ruth 
ii. 8). His inquiry was like that afterwards made by David (2 Sam, 
i. 4) : " How went the matter ? " 

17. Heavy were the tidings. The news grew worse as he went on. 
Israel had fled before the Philistines. There had been a great 
slaughter of the people. Eli's sons were both dead. To crown the 
calamities, "The ark of God is taken." 

18. The old man's heart was sad; but he kept his place till he 
heard that the ark was taken from him and his people, and was in 
the hands of their enemies and the Lord's. Then he fell backward 
from his seat, and his neck brake ; and he died. His seat was without 
a back ; and he fell heavily to the ground. His heart was broken ; 
then his neck was broken. His long life was ended. He had judged 
Israel forty years. 

He felt the wickedness of his sons. He knew that he had not 
properly controlled them. He mourned their untimely end. He 
mourned more for the ark, which had so long been in his keeping. 
Perhaps he reproached hinself for letting it go from the tabernacle. 
It seemed to him that the Lord was no longer with his people. The 
burden was greater than he could bear. His sorrow at the loss of the 
ark witnesses to his piety. The date given for the death of Eli is 
B.C. 1116. 

Eli was descended from Ithamar, the youngest son of Aaron. How 
the office of high priest came into this line, we are not told. Eli 
appears to have been the first of the house of Ithamar who held it. 
He was the first man who was both priest and judge ; the only one, 
unless we call Samuel a priest. Perhaps some heroic deed in his 
younger days led to his appointment as judge. If he had been a man 
of strong character, he might have united the Jewish Church and 
State. He was a good man, but an over-indulgent f ather ; and his 
leniency was the ruin of his sons, and the destruction of his house. 



SAMUEL. 103 

PBACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Zeal for the house of God is a noble trait. 

2. When the Lord has departed, the nation, the man, is undone. 

3. It is a mistaken kindness which allows children to have their 
own way. 

4. Children should obey their parents in the Lord. 

Lesson X. — Samuel the Judge. — Chap. vii. 5-12. 

The great event which happened between the death of Eli and the 
events recorded in this passage was the return of the ark of the Lord. 
The ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, some nine miles north-west of Jeru- 
salem, for twenty years. It may have been because the country 
around Shiloh was held by the Philistines, that the ark was not 
restored to its place. 

The Israelites again fell into idolatry. They went after strange 
gods. Baalim and Ashtaroth are mentioned. Samuel bade the people 
put away their idolatry, and return unto the Lord with all their 
hearts, and serve him only. Then he would deliver them from the 
Philistines. They obeyed his words, and served the Lord only. 

" And Samuel said, Gather all Israel at Mizpeh, and I will pray for you unto 
the Lord. 

"And they gathered together to Mizpeh, and drew water, and poured it out 
before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against 
the Lord. And Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpeh." — 1 Sam. vii. 5. 6. 

5. When they had put away the strange gods, Samuel was ready to 
pray for them. He called an assembly at Mizpeh. This was a city 
of Benjamin, and therefore near at hand (Josh, xviii. 26). Joshua 
gathered the tribes at Shechem (Josh. xxiv. 1). When they came 
together, he would make intercession for them, as Moses had done 
(Exod. xvii. 11, 12). 

The last previous mention of Samuel is in chap. iv. 1. After 
twenty years, he appears as the leader of the people. He was judge 
and prophet. He exercised his office in humility. He trusted not to 
himself to deliver Israel. He became a suppliant for his repentant 
people. 



104 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

6. The people gathered at Mizpeh. They " drew water, and poured 
it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day." These were religious, 
symbolic acts. At the Feast of Tabernacles, the high priest poured 
from a golden vessel water that had been brought from the Pool of 
Siloam. Five da\s before this feast was the Day of Atonement, when 
the only fast enjoined by the law of Moses was observed. The rites 
at Mizpeh, possibly, had reference to those observances ; and perhaps 
the gathering at Mizpeh was at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, 
which was in the autumn, when the fruits were gathered in (read 
Ez. iii. 4; Neh. viii. 16-18). 

The meaning of these two acts at Mizpeh cannot be determined. 
They were connected with the confession of sin. Fasting — the 
mortification of the flesh, the afflicting of the soul — is appropriately 
joined to contrition. Water usually denotes cleansing, and may 
have that meaning here ; or it may here signify the ruin and weakness 
of the people, who were " as water spilt on the ground" (see 2 Sam. 
xiv. 14; Ps. xxii. 14). 

The people confessed their guilt. "We have sinned against the 
Lord." They may have expressed by the water the desire that 
their sin and misery might be " as waters that pass away" (Job xi. 16). 

This appears to have been the beginning of the judgeship of Sam- 
uel. His service in the office seems to date from this event at Mizpeh. 

" And when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered 
together to Mizpeh, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel. And, when 
the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. 

" And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our 
God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. 

" And Samuel took a sucking lamb, and offered it for a burnt offering wholly 
unto the Lord : and Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel ; and the Lord heard 
him." — 1 Sam. vii. 7-9. 

7. The Philistines heard that the children of Israel were assembled at 
Mizpeh; and, anticipating evil from the meeting, they "went up 
against Israel." The lords of the Philistines went up. doubtless, in 
large force. The Israelites heard of their coming, and were greatly 
affrighted. 

8. The people depended on Samuel. They begged him to remember 
their peril, and to cry unto the Lord — now, "the Lord our God," — 
for deliverance from the approaching enemy. 

9. Before Samuel prayed, he offered sacrifice. The sacrifice was 
itself a petition, and prepared the way for the request he was to pre- 
sent. In regard to the offering of a young lamb, see Lev. xxii. 27. 



SAMUEL. 105 

For the law of burnt offerings, see Lev. i. 10-13. He seems to have 
offered the lamb whole, as a burnt offering. And the Lord answered 
him. 

"And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near 
to battle against Israel : but the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day 
upon the Philistines, and discomfited them; and they were smitten before Israeh 

14 And the men of Israel went out of Mizpeh, and pursued the Philistines, and 
smote them, until they came under Beth-car. 

" Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called 
the name of it Eben-ezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us." — 1 Sam. 
vii. 10-12. 

10. The Philistines drew near for battle while Samuel was making 
his offering. The Lord thundered mightily upon them, and discom- 
fited them. "They were smitten before Israel.' ' The prayer of 
Samuel was answered ; his sacrifice was accepted ; the repentance of 
the people was rewarded. 

11. The men of Israel pursued their panic-stricken foes, and smote 
them. Beth-car is mentioned only in this place. It seems to have 
been on a height, from the expression, "under Beth-car.' ' It was 
between Mizpeh and the territory of the Philistines. 

12. Mizpeh, as we have seen, was in the portion of Benjamin. This . 
is the only mention we have of Shen, of which we know only what is 
here narrated. A stone was a very natural memorial of the event to 
be commemorated. Eben-ezer we had in chap. iv. 1, by anticipa- 
tion of the name. The name means " the stone of help." 

So the Philistines were subdued. They gave back the cities they 
had taken from Israel. As long as Samuel ruled, the hand of the 
Lord was for Israel, and against the Philistines, who "came no more 
into the coast of Israel." 

" Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life." In the latter years 
of his life, Saul was king, which, of course, made a change in Sam- 
uel's duties. 

His home was at Kamah, and thence he went on a circuit from 
year to year, taking three places also in Benjamin for his official sta- 
tions. When he was old, he appointed his sons as judges under him, 
They were judges in Beersheba, in the far south of Palestine. 

PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. Confession of sin should precede prayer for r aercy. Head 1 John 
i. 8, 9. 



106 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

2. When sinners have come into peril, they desire the prayers of 
godly persons. Few are so hardened that they do not wish for reli- 
gious counsel when they think they are dying. It is better to turn to 
God, and associate with his people, while we are well. 

3. Note the power of intercessory prayer. 

4. Mark once more the patience and kindness of God towards his 
people. 



Lesson XI. — A Kma desired. — Chap. viii. 4-9. 

The sons of Samuel did not inherit the virtue of their father. 
They "took bribes, and perverted judgment." 

" Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to 
Samuel unto Hainan, 

" And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways : 
now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. 

" But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. 
And Samuel prayed unto the Lord. 

"And the Lord said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all 
that they say unto thee; for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected 
me, that I should not reign over them." — 1 Sam. viii. 4-7. 

4. Samuel was still the head of the nation ; and to him, at Ramah, 
where his home was, the elders of Israel came together to make their 
want known. 

5. They desired to have a king like the nations around them. 
Samuel was too old to be their head, and his sons were not worthy to 
succeed him. It is not strange that this relief from their political 
troubles occurred to them. It is interesting to notice that Moses, 
under divine inspiration, foresaw the time when the Israelites would 
call for a king : see Deut. xvii. 14-20, where we have the duties of a 
king set forth long in advance of the time when there would be the 
king to discharge them. TheMesire is more fully declared in ver. 
20. They wanted both a civil and a military leader. Surrounded 
with enemies, they wished to be able* to cope with them. They felt 
the need of a strong martial arm. 

6. Samuel was displeased at this request. It indicated a want of 
confidence in him. They were rejecting him. This was trying to 
the good old man. Should he refuse the request ? Should he reason 
with them ? First, he would lay the matter before the Lord. Like 
a wise man, like an artless child, he prayed, seeking wisdom. 



SAMUEL. 107 

7. He did well. The Lord promptly replied to him. He bade him 
listen to the people, and give them a king. Mark how gently he 
quiets the troubled heart of his aged servant. It was not Samuel 
who was rejected, but the Lord, who already was their king, who 
had made them a nation, written their constitution, prescribed their 
laws, given them a country, fought their battles. Now they desired 
a man for king. He had appointed Samuel as their judge. They 
wanted another man before he was removed. They had not called 
upon God in their trouble, or taken counsel with Samuel. They 
resolved to adopt the form of government under which the heathen 
lived and fought. This was more than discontent with Samuel: 
" They have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." 

" According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought 
them up out of Egypt, even unto this day, wherewith they have forsaken me, and 
served other gods, so do they also unto thee. 

" Now, therefore, hearken unto their voice : howbeit yet protest solemnly 
unto them, and show them the manner of the king that shall reign over them." 
—1 Sam. viii. 8, 9. 

8. This was not the beginning of their ingratitude. The whole 
march from Egypt was marked with murmuring and rebellion. 
They lapsed into idolatry, repented when calamity came, fell again 
into evil ways, repeating their inconstancy and impiety. They 
forsook the Lord, and served other gods: so were they doing now 
with Samuel. Yet let him bear it, as the Lord had borne it. 

9. He was to hearken to their request. He was to show them the 
folly of their proposal ; to let them see the manner of the king they 
would have, and the oppression they would be called to endure. 
They would come to cry unto the Lord for deliverance, and the Lord 
would not hear them. They should be left to reap according to their 
wilful and wicked sowing. This, Samuel was to show the people. 
If they persisted in their desire, he was to make them a king (read 
Hos. xiii. 9-11; Acts xiii. 20, 21). 

Samuel told the words of the Lord to the people, and described the 
life they would have under a king. They would not follow his 
counsel: "ISTay; but we will have a king over us." Again Samuel 
went to the Lord. He was bidden to make the king ; and he sent 
every man to his own city. 

PRACTICAL, THOUGHTS. 

1. It seems strange that Samuel, like Eli, should have bad sons. 
We do not know what was defective in Samuel's domestic govern- 



108 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

merit. But good people are not to take it for granted that their chil- 
dren will be good in whatever way they are brought up. 

2. Ingratitude is base. 

3. Ingratitude to man is far less base than ingratitude to God. If 
he can bear with those who sin against him in wronging us, surely 
we should be forbearing and forgiving. 

4. When we complain of the ingratitude of men toward us, let us 
see how our ingratitude toward God looks. 

5. In every trouble, be it great or small, let us pray. 

6. Rulers should pray. To have the charge of a child, a family, a 
school, a nation, is a responsible thing ; and we should always ask 
divine guidance. 



Lesson XII. — Saul chosen. — Chap. x. 17-24. 

The people were determined to have a king. Samuel was directed 
to make them a king. % 

In chap. ix. 1, 2, we have a portrait of Saul, a young man, tall and 
comely, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin. Seeking the lost 
asses of his father, he came to Samuel to ask him, as a seer, whither he 
should go. He was to give him, as his fee, a quarter of a shekel, or 
about twelve cents. That was one side. 

A day before Saul came, the Lord told Samuel that the man was 
coming whom he should anoint to be captain over Israel. That was 
the other side. Saul went to Samuel, who, greatly to his surprise, 
entertained him at a feast, talked with him, and in the morning went 
abroad with him, and, sending the servant in advance, took a vial of 
oil, and poured it on the young man's head, anointing him to be cap- 
tain over the Lord's inheritance. He gave him three signs, by way 
of confirmation ; all of which came to pass. And the spirit of God 
came upon Saul, so that he prophesied ; and he went up to the high 
place at Gibeah to worship. 

" And Samuel called the people together unto the Lord to Mizpeh; 

" And said unto the children of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I 
brought up Israel out of Egypt, and delivered you out of the hand of the Egyp- 
tians, and out of the hand of all kingdoms, and of them that oppressed you." — 
1 Sam. x. 17, 18. 

IT. Then Samuel called the people together at Mizpeh, to give them 
their king. By the words, " Unto the Lord," it would seem that the 



SAMUEL. 109 

ark was at Mizpeh at this time. It was important that the Lord's 
presence should be fully realized. 

18. Samuel began with a recital of the circumstances in which they 
were assembled. He spoke by divine authority. He reminded them 
that the Lord had brought them from the house of bondage, and 
saved them from their oppressors. 

" And ye have tliis day rejected your God, who himself saved you out of all 
your adversities and your tribulations ; and ye have said unto him, Nay, but set a 
king over us. Now, therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes, 
and by your thousands. 

" And, when Samuel had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe 
of Benjamin was taken. 

" When he had caused the tribe of Benjamin to come near by their families, 
the family of Matri was taken, and Saul the son of Kish was taken ; and, when 
they sought him, he could not be found. 

" Therefore they inquired of the Lord further, if the man should yet come 
thither. And the Lord answered, Behold, he hath hid himself among the stuff. 

" And they ran and fetched him thence ; and, when he stood among the people, 
he was higher than any of the people from his shoulders and upward." — 1 Sam. 
x. 19-23. 

19. He showed them that they had rejected God, who had saved 
them, displaying his power and his regard for them. They were not 
content to remain under his guidance and defence alone: they 
would have a king. The Lord would give them a king. 

Although the king was already privately chosen, yet the choice was 
to be openly ratified by the Lord. The king was to be found by the lot. 
The people were to come before the Lord, or before the ark, by tribes, 
and divisions of tribes (see Josh. vii. 14-18). 

20. The lot fell on the tribe of Benjamin. 

21. The families of Benjamin passed before the Lord; and the 
family of Matri was taken, then the house of Kish, then Saul. The 
king was denoted by the sacred lot ; but where was the man ? He 
could not be found. 

22. They inquired of the Lord, probably by Samuel, or by the high 
priest, if Saul had come to Mizpeh with the people whom Samuel 
called. The answer was, that Saul was hidden among the stuff, or 
baggage. So large a company would have a large amount of baggage, 
which was, probably, placed around the camp. Saul knew what had 
been done in private. He saw that the lot was drawing near him. 
He was amazed that he should be chosen for king. He shrank from 
the responsibility and the strange prominenoe and honor. 

10 



110 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

2£. But his hiding-place was discovered, and he was brought out. 
His very presence commended him. From his shoulders and upward, 
he was higher than any of the people. He looked the warrior and 
the king. 

"And Samuel said to all the people, See yehim whom the Lord hath chosen, 
that there is none like him among all the people? And all the people shouted 
and said, God save the king." — 1 Sam. x. 24. 

24. When Samuel pointed him out as the Lord's choice, and bade 
the people see what manner of man he was, they shouted, and said, 
" God save th.3 king." They accepted him whom the Lord gave, and 
prayed for his prosperity. 

So Israel had a king. And Samuel inaugurated the king and the 
kingdom. He wrote out " the manner of the kingdom," — " the just 
prerogative of the kingdom, the law, or bill of rights, by which the 
king's power was limited as well as secured." What he wrote was 
based on what Moses had written in Deut. xvii. 14-20. We should read 
that constitution to see what the king was to be. He was to fear the 
Lord, and keep his law and his statutes. The book which Samuel 
wrote was laid beside the ark and by the law of God. 

Then Samuel sent the people to their homes ; and the new king 
went to his home at Gibeah, which was about five miles north of Jeru- 
salem. With him went many who were loyal, and who accepted 
Saul as the king whom God had given. There were others who 
despised Saul, and gave him no presents. "But he held his peace." 
The people were soon convinced of Saul's prowess, and gladly renewed 
the kingdom at Gilgal. Saul became king about B.C. 1095. 



PRACTICAL THOUGHTS. 

1. In all the changes of life, at the beginning of all plans and 
works, we should remember what great things the Lord hath done 
for us. 

2. We should let God choose our rulers, and appoint all our ways. 

3. Modesty is becoming; but we should not refuse the place or 
work to which God calls us. 

4. We should pray for the king and for all who are in authority. 



SAMUEL. Ill 

Lesson XIII. —Samuel's Pasting Woeds (Review). Chap. 

xii. 20-25. 

Saul was king of Israel. Samuel was still judge. But Samuel 
was an old man. At this change in the affairs of Israel, he gave 
them advice which was both judicial and paternal. He called them 
to witness to the integrity of his life. Before God they testified to 
his uprightness; and still they had desired a king. He told them 
how good the Lord had been to them ; and still they had desired a 
king. They had what they sought. Ungrateful as they had shown 
themselves in demanding this change, if they should obey the Lord, 
all would be well : if they should rebel against the Lord, no king 
could protect them; the chastisements under which their fathers 
had suffered would come upon them. In token of the displeasure of 
the Lord at their demand for a king, at the call of Samuel the Lord 
sent thunder and rain in the time of wheat-harvest; so that the 
people feared the Lord and Samuel. The Lord had shown his power, 
which would be used against them if they should be rebellious. The 
people begged Samuel to pray for them, that they might not die : for 
to their other sins they added " this evil, to ask a king." 

" And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not; ye have done all this wicked- 
ness : yet turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your 
heart ; 

"And turn ye not aside : for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot 
profit nor deliver ; for they are vain. 

" For the Lord will not forsake his people for his great name's sake : because it 
hath pleased the Lord to make you his people." — 1 Sam. xii. 20-22. 

20. Samuel did not deny, but re-affirmed, the guilt of the people. 
They had indeed done the wickedness which they confessed; but 
that was past, and would be forgotten, if henceforth they served the 
Lord heartily. 

21. They were not to forsake the Lord, nor to swerve from their 
obedience to him. Whatever was preferred to him would be a vain 
thing. The gods of the heathen were vanity, and could neither 
prosper, nor deliver from calamity. 

22. The secret of God's care and forbearance toward the children 
of Israel was, that they were his people. Abraham was his friend ; 
and they were the heirs of the covenant made with him. He had 
brought them from the house of bondage, and made them a nation. 
His own pleasure, his own honor, were concerned in their well-being. 
They might force him to cast them off ; but if they were obedient, 



112 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

even after so much of inconstancy, lie would not forsake them. For 
his great name's sake, for his own sake, he would be their God (see 
Deut. vii. 6-9; Ps. xciv. 14; Kom. xi. 1, 2). 

" Moreover, as for me, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing 
to pray for you ; but I will teach you the good and the right way : 

" Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider 
how great things he hath done for you. 

"But, if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your 
king." —1 Sam. xii. 23-25. 

23. The people had asked Samuel to pray for them. This he would 
do. It would be sin in him to neglect the people of God, the nation 
over which he ruled, the needy who asked his prayers. He would 
pray for them: he would do more, — he would teach them " the good 
and right way." 

24. All teaching and praying would be in vain, unless the people 
truly and heartily obeyed God. In speaking of what God had done 
for them, Samuel may have had immediate reference to the thunder 
and rain by which God had made himself known, that they 
might regard him (see Jer. xiv. 22) ; but it is more natural to sup- 
pose he embraced the whole history of the people, in which the good- 
ness and greatness of the Lord had been signally displayed. 

25. Samuel knew to whom he was speaking. It is painful to find 
him coming so often to this warning. After all, they might do wick- 
edly, and forsake the Lord. Their own conduct justified the fear. 
But again the result was made known. They should be consumed. 
Even the king whom they had desired for a protector should be con- 
sumed with them. Thus did Samuel give them wise teaching : out of 
his long experience of God's ways and their ways, he instructed them 
in their duty, and pointed the way to an honorable national life. 

At this point these lessons close. Samuel continued to render 
important service. Saul was king ; but Samuel was the prophet of 
the Lord, and really took rank above him. Even the king recognized 
the authority of the prophet who had anointed him. It was given to 
Samuel to announce to Saul that the Lord had rejected him from 
being king, and that the kingdom was to pass into other hands. And 
Samuel mourned for Saul. He anointed David to be king in Saul's 
stead, and, having thus made provision for Israel for many and event- 
ful years to come, he died. The date usually given for his death is 
B.C. 1058 or 1060. " And all the Israelites were gathered together, 
and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Kamah." Jo- 



SAMUEL. 113 

septus says, "He was a man whom the Hebrews honored in an ex- 
traordinary degree ; for that lamentation which the people made for 
him, and this during a long time, manifested his virtue, and the 
affection which the people bore for him, as also did the solemnity 
and concern that appeared about his funeral, and about the complete 
observation of all his funeral-rites. They buried him in his own 
city, — Ramah, and wept for him a very great number of days, not 
looking on it as a sorrow for the death of another man, but as that in 
which they were every one themselves concerned. " 

"Samuel is called emphatically * The Prophet.' . . . He was espe- 
cially known in his own age as 'Samuel the Seer.'" "An awful 
reverence grew up around him. . . . He represents the independence 
of the moral law, of the divine will, as distinct from regal or sacer- 
dotal enactments. . . . He is the first of the regular succession of 
prophets. . . . It is in his lifetime, long after he had been ' established 
as a prophet,' that we hear of the companies of disciples, called, in the 
Old Testament, ' the sons of the prophets,' by modern writers, ' the 
schools of the prophets.' All the peculiarities of their education are 
implied or expressed. ... At the head of this congregation, or 
'church, as it were, within a church,' Samuel is expressly described as 
'standing appointed over them.' . . . In these schools, and learning to 
cultivate the prophetic gifts, were some whom we know for certain, 
others we may almost conjecture, to have been so trained or influ- 
enced. One was Saul. . . . Another was David. ... He there be- 
comes the spiritual father of the Psalmist King. He is also the 
founder of the first regular institutions of religious instruction, and 
communities for the purposes of education. The schools of Greece 
were not yet in existence. From these Jewish institutions were de- 
veloped, by a natural order, the universities of Christendom. And 
it may be further added, that with this view the whole life of Samuel 
is in accordance. He is the prophet, the only prophet, till the time 
of Isaiah, of whom we know that he was so from his earliest 
years. It is this continuity of his own life and character that makes 
him so fit an instrument for conducting his nation through so great 
a change." — Smith's Bible Dictionary, art. " Samuel." 

The lessons of this quarter cover the period of the judges, and 
bring us to the first king. 

"This ended the period of the judges, — a period, if carelessly sur- 
veyed, of alternate slavery, and bloody struggles for independence. 
Hence may rashly be inferred the total failure of the Mosaic polity in 
securing the happiness of the people. It has already been shown 
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114 NOTES FOR TEACHERS AND SCHOLARS. 

that the views of the legislator were not completely carried into 
effect, and that the miseries of the people were the natural conse- 
quences of their deviation from their original statutes. But in fact, 
out of this period of about four hundred and sixty years, as com- 
monly reckoned, not one-fourth was passed under foreign oppression ; 
and many of the servitudes seem to have been local, extending only 
over certain tribes, not over the whole nation. Above three hundred 
years of peaceful and uneventful happiness remain, to which history, 
only faithful in recording the crimes and sufferings of man, bears the 
favorable testimony of her silence. If the Hebrew nation did not 
enjoy a high degree of intellectual civilization, yet, as simple hus- 
bandmen, possessing perfect freedom, equal laws, the regular admin- 
istration of justice ; cultivating a- soil which yielded bountifully, yet 
required but light labor ; with a religion strict as regards the morals 
which are essential to individual, domestic, and national peace, 
yet indulgent in every kind of social and festive enjoyment, — the 
descendants of Abraham had reached a higher state of virtue and 
happiness than any other nation of the period.' ' — Milman' s History 
of the Jeivs, vol. 1, p. 317. 

PBACTICAIi THOUGHTS. 

1. Ps. cv.-cvi. 

2. Great as the mercy of the Lord is seen to be in the history of 
Israel, far greater is it as it is declared in Christ our Saviour. 

3. As obedience and confidence secured the ancient mercy, so will 
they bring us the grace which is in God our Redeemer. 



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